
Qass 

Book 



CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 



OF 



WASHINGTON. 



ESSAY 



CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 



WASHINGTON 



REVOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



By M. GUIZOT. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 



BOSTON: 

J/MES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 

1840. 



-51?- 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and forty, by James Munroe and Company, in the Clerk's 
office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



CAMBRIDGE: 

FOLSOM, WELLS, AND THURSTON, 

raiNTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



The following Essay is a translation of the 
Introduction, by M. Guizot, to a French version 
of Sparks's Life of Washington, and of selected 
portions of Washington's Writings, which has 
recently appeared in Paris, in six octavo vol- 
umes. M. Guizot is well known, not only as 
the author of many valuable historical works, but 
as a practical statesman himself, and therefore 
pecuharly qualified to appreciate the character of 
Washington, and to estimate his claims to the 
gratitude of his country, and the admiration of 
mankind. The Essay can hardly fail to be read 
with interest by every countryman of the illus- 
trious man, who forms its subject. It is a per- 



viii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

formance remarkable for the knowledge which it 
evinces of our own history, for its great political 
wisdom, its elevated moral tone, and its just dis- 
crimination in regard to the character of Wash- 
ington. Every American citizen must be highly 
gratified to find his own veneration for the name 
of Washington confirmed by this unbi is: ed trib- 
ute from a foreigner so distinguished in literature 
and politics, as M. Guizot. Nothing has ever 
been written concerning him in Europe, so ac- 
curate, so just, and so profound as this ; and it 
will serve to justify and strengthen that admira- 
tion, which has been accorded to him in foreign 
countries, hardly less than in his ov/n. 

Boston, June, 1840. 



ADVERTISEMENT 

OF THE FRENCH PUBLISHERS 



No foreign event occurring at a distance ever 
awakened so lively a sympathy in France, as 
the Revolution of the United States of America. 
No great man who was a foreigner has ever, in 
this country, been the object of general admira- 
tion to such an extent as Washington. He has 
had the applause of both the court and the peo- 
ple, of the old regime and the new nation. Dur- 
ing his hfe, testimonials of respect were heaped 
upon him by Louis the Sixteenth ; and, at his 
death. Napoleon directed a public mourning for 
him, and a funeral oration.* 

* " Bonaparte rendered unusual honors to the name of 
Washington, not long after the event of his death was made 
known in France. By what motives he was prompted, it is 
needi ss to inquire. Ai any rate, both the act itself and his 



X ADVERTISEMENT. 

It is now forty years since this great man 
has been reposing, to use his own expression, 
''in tlie mansions of rest," at Mount Vernon, 
by the side of his fathers. But his country 
has recently reared to him the noblest of monu- 
ments, in the pubhcation of his JVorks, consist- 
ing of his Letters, Discourses, and Messages, 

manner of performing it are somewhat remarkable, when re- 
garded in connexion with his subsequent career. He was 
then First Consul. On the 9th of February, he issued the 
following order of the day to the army. ' Washington is 
dead ! This great man fought against tyranny ; he estab- 
lished the liberty of his country. His memory will always 
be dear to the French people, as it will be to all free men of 
the two worlds ; and especially to French soldiers, who, like 
him and the American soldiers, have combated for liberty 
and equality.' The First Consul likewise ordered, that, dur- 
ing ten days, black crape should be suspended from all the 
standards and flags throughout the Republic. On the same 
day a splendid ceremony took place in the Champ de Mars, 
and the trophies brought by the army from Egypt were dis- 
played with great pomp. Immediately after this ceremony 
was over, a funeral oration, in honor of Washington (Eloge 
Funthre de JVashington) was pronounced by M. de Fontanes, 
in the Hotel des Invalides, then called the Temple of Mars. 
The First Consul, and all the civil and military authorities 
of the capital, were present." — Sparks's Life of Wasliington, 
pp. 531, 532, note. 



ADVERTISEMENT. XI 

comprising what was written and spoken by him 
in the midst of his active career, and forming 
indeed his hvely image and the true history of 
his Hfe. 

These are, in truth, his Works. AVashington 
preserved with scrupulous care, either a first 
draft or an exact copy of every letter he wrote, 
wdiether as a public man or a private individual, 
and whether they related to his own concerns, 
the management and culture of his farms, or 
to the interests of the . state. During the pe- 
riod from 1783 to 1787, in his retirement at 
Mount Vernon, he arranged the first part of this 
correspondence, containing, among other things, 
whatever had been written by him during the 
war of independence ; and, at his death, he be- 
queathed all his papers, together with his estate 
at Mount Vernon, to his nephew, Bushrod 
Washington, who was for thirty years one of 
the justices of the Supreme Court of the Unit- 
ed States. The entire collection, comprising 
the letters written by Washington himself, and 
those addressed to him, filled more than two 
hundred folio volumes. 



xii ADVERTISEMENT. 

The Congress of the United States has recent- 
ly purchased these precious papers, and caused 
them to be deposited in the national archives. 
An able editor, Mr. Sparks, already well known 
by his important historical labors, and especially 
by editing the "Diplomatic Correspondence of 
the United Sta e> during the War of Indepen- 
dence," (printed at Boston in twelve octavo 
volumes,) has examined thj>e papers and made 
selections and extracts from them. The family 
of Washington, his surviving friends, and various 
intelligent and distinguished persons favored his 
efforts in executing this patriotic task. Mr. 
Sparks has not remained content with th collec- 
tion of materials, already so ample, which was 
in his possession ; he travelled over Ameri- 
ca and Europe, and the public and private col- 
lections of France and England were liberally 
opened to him. He has sought out, and brought 
together from all quarters, the documents neces- 
sary to illustrate and complete this uthentic 
biography of a great man, which is the history 
of the infant years of a great people ; and a work 
in twelve large octavo volumes, adorned with 



ADVERTISEMENT. Xlll 

portraits, plates, and facsimiles, under the title 
of " The Writings of George Washington," has 
been the result of this labor, which has been 
performed in all its parts with scrupulous fidelity, 
patriotism, and a love of the subject. 

The w^ork is divided into several parts. 

The First Volume contains a Life of Washing- 
ton, written by Mr. Sparks. 

The Second Volume, entitled Part First, con- 
tains the Official and Private Letters of Washing- 
ton, prior to the American Revolution, (from the 
9th of March, 1754, to the 31st of May, 1775.) 
The official letters relate to the war of 1754- 
1758, between France and England, for the pos- 
session of the territories lying west of the English 
colonies. 

The Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and 
Eighth Volumes (being the Second Part) com- 
prise the Correspondence and the various jDapers 
relating to the American Revolution and the 
"War of Independence, (from the 16th of June, 
1775, to the 23d of December, 17S3.) 

The Ninth Volume (being the Third Part) is 
composed of the Private Letters written by 



XIV ADVERTISEMENT. 

Washington from the end of 1783 to the spring 
of 1789, in the interval between his return to 
Mount Vernon, after the peace of Versailles, and 
his elevation to the Presidency of the United 
States, (from the 28th of December, 1783, to 
the 14ih of April, 1789.) 

The Tenth and Eleventh Volumes (being the 
Fom'th Part) comprise the Official and Private 
Correspondence of Washington from his eleva- 
tion to the Presidency to the close of his life, 
(from the 5th of May, 1789, to the 12th of 
December, 1799.) 

The Twelfth Volume (being the Fifth Part) 
contains the Documents and Messages addressed 
by Washington to Congress, as President of the 
United States, and also his Proclamations and 
Addresses to the American people in general, 
or to particular classes of citizens. 

Each volume is terminated by an Appendix, in 
which the Editor has collected a variety of his- 
torical documents of great interest, and, generally 
speaking, hitherto unpublished, which illustrate 
the principal events of the period, and the most 
important parts of the life and character of 
Washington. 



ADVERTISEMENT. XV 



Finally, numerous and accurate Notes, scat- 
tered through the work, give all the information 
necessary for the complete understanding of the 
letters and incidents to which they relate. 

Viewed as a whole and in its details, in its 
literary execution and in its outward form, the 
edition is worthy of the great name to which it 
is consecrated. 

In 1838, when the work had been just com- 
pleted, the American Editor, desirous that Wash- 
ington should be as well known in France as in 
his own country, applied to M. Guizot, request- 
ing him to make a selection, from the voluminous 
correspondence, of such portions as seemed most 
calculated to awaken an interest in the French 
public, and to superintend their pubhcation in 
the French language. M. Guizot has made this 
selection ; upon the principle of taking, especial- 
ly, First, the letters concerning the relations of 
France and the Unhed States at that period, and 
the distinguished part which our country acted 
in that great event ; Secondly, those which de- 
velope the political views of Washington in the 
formation of the consthution and the organiza- 



Xvi ADVERTISEMENT. 

tion of the government of the United States, — 
views full of valuable instruction ; Thirdly, those 
which exhibit in the clearest light the character, 
the turn of mind, and the manners of the great 
man from whom they proceeded. 

In order to accomplish fully the honorable task 
which he undertook, M. Guizot was desirous of 
presenting his own views of the character of 
Washington, and of his influence in the rev- 
olution which founded the United States of 
America ; and these are contained in the Intro- 
duction, which is prefixed to our edition. 

We have spared no pains to make its ex- 
ternal appearance worthy of the intrinsic value 
of its contents. We are indebted to the kind- 
ness of General Cass, the minister of the United 
States in France, for most useful assistance and 
information ; and he has afforded them with a 
kindness, at once so enlightened and so gener- 
ous, that we feel it our duty to make a public 
acknowledgment of our obligations. to him. 



CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 



WASHINGTON 



Two difficult and important duties are 
assigned to man, and may constitute his 
true glory ; to support misfortune and re- 
sign himself to it with firmness ; to be- 
lieve in goodness and trust himself to it 
with unbroken confidence. 

There is a spectacle not less noble or 
less improving, than that of a virtuous man 
struggling with adversity ; it is that of a 
virtuous man at the head of a good cause, 
and giving assurance of its triumph. 

If there were ever a just cause, and one 
1 



/ 



2 CHARACTER AJND INFLUENCE 

which deserved success, it was that of the 
English colonies in their struggle to be- 
come the United States of America. In 
their case, open insurrection had been pre- 
ceded by resistance. This resistance was 
founded upon historical right and upon 
facts, upon natural right and upon opinions. 
It is the honorable distinction of Eng- 
land to have given to her colonies, in their 
infancy, the seminal principle of their lib- 
erty. Almost all of them, either at the 
time of their being planted or shortly af- 
ter, received charters which conferred up- 
on the colonists the rights of the mother 
country. And these charters were not a 
mere deceptive form, a dead letter, for they 
either established or recognised those pow- 
erful institutions, which impelled the col- 
onists to defend their liberties and to con- 
trol power by dividing it ; such as the 
laying of taxes by vote, the election of 
the principal public bodies, trial by jury, 



OF WASHINGTON. 3 

and the right to meet and deliberate upon 
affairs of general interest. 

Thus the history of these colonies is 
nothing else than the practical and sedu- 
lous developement of the spirit of liberty, 
expanding under the protecting mfluence 
of the laws and traditions of the country. 
Such, indeed, was the history of England 
itself. 

A still more striking resemblance is 
presented in the fact, that the colonies of 
America, at least the greater part of them 
and the most considerable among them, 
either were founded, or received their 
principal increase, precisely at the period 
when England was preparing to sustain, 
or was already sustaining, those bold con- 
flicts against the claims of absolute power, 
which were to confer upon her the hon- 
orable distinction of giving to the world 
the first example of a great nation, free 
and well governed. 



4 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

From 1578 to 1704, under Elizabeth, 
James the First, Charles the First, the 
Long Parliament, Cromwell, Charles the 
Second, James the Second, William the 
Third, and Queen Anne, the charters of 
Virginia, of Massachusetts, of Maryland, 
of Carolina, and of New York, were, one 
after another, recognised, contested, re- 
strained, enlarged, lost, regained ; inces- 
santly exposed to those struggles and 
those vicissitudes, which are the condi- 
tion, indeed the very essence, of liberty ; 
for it is victory, and not peace, that free 
communities can lay claim to. 

At the same time with their legal 
rights, the colonists had also religious 
faith. It was not only as Englishmen, 
but as Christians, that they wished to be 
free ; and their faith was more dear to 
them than their charters. Indeed, these 
charters were, in their eyes, nothing more 
than a manifestation and an image, how- 



OF WASHINGTON. 5 

ever imperfect, of the great law of God, 
the Gospel. Their rights would not 
have been lost, even had they been de- 
prived of their charters. In their en- 
thusiastic state of mind, supported by di- 
vine favor, they would have traced these 
rights to a source superior and inacces- 
sible to all human power ; for they cher- 
ished sentiments more elevated than even 
the institutions themselves, over which 
they were so sensitively watchful. 

It is well known, that, in the eighteenth 
century, the human understanding, im- 
pelled by the accumulation of wealth, the 
growth of population, and the increase of 
every form of social power, as well as by 
its own impetuous and self-derived activi- 
ty, attempted the conquest of the world. 
Political science, in all its forms, woke 
into new and vigorous life ; as did, to a 
still greater degree, the spirit of philoso- 
phy, proud, unsatisfied, eager to pene- 



6 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

trate and to regulate all things. Eng- 
lish America shared in this great move- 
ment, but serenely and dispassionately ; 
obeying its inherent tendency rather than 
rushing into new and untried paths. Phi- 
losophical opinions were there combined 
with religious belief, the triumphs of rea- 
son with the heritage of faith, and the 
rights of man with those of the Christian. 
A noble spectacle is presented to us, 
when we see the union of historical and 
rational right, of traditions and opinions. 
A nation, in such a case, gains in pru- 
dence as well as in energy. When time- 
honored and esteemed truths control man 
without enslaving him, restrain at the 
same time that they support him, he can 
move onward and upward, without dan- 
ger of being carried away by the impet- 
uous flight of his own spirit, soon to be 
either dashed in pieces against unknown 
obstacles, or to sink gradually into a slug- 



OF WASHINGTON. 



gish and paralyzing inactivity. And when, 
by a further union, still more beautiful and 
more salutary, religious belief is indissolu- 
bly linked, in the very mind of man, to the 
general progress of opinions, and liberty 
of reason to the firm convictions of faith, 
— it is then that a people may trust them- 
selves to the boldest institutions. For re- 
ligious belief promotes, to an incalculable 
extent, the wise management of human 
affairs. In order to discharge properly 
the duty assigned to him in this life, man 
must contemplate it from a higher point 
of view ; if his mind be merely on the 
same level with the task he is perform- 
ing, he will soon fall below it, and become 
incapable of accomplishing it in a worthy 
manner. 

Such was the fortunate condition, both 
of man and of society, in the English 
colonies, when, in a spirit of haughty ag- 
gression, England undertook to control 



8 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

their fortunes and their destiny, without 
their own consent. This aggression was 
not unprecedented, nor altogether arbitra- 
ry ; it also rested upon historical founda- 
tions, and might claim to be supported 
by some right. 

It is the great problem of political 
science, to bring the various powers of 
society into harmony, by assigning to 
each its sphere and its degree of activ- 
ity ; a harmony never assured, and al- 
ways liable to be disturbed, but which, 
nevertheless, can be produced, even from 
the elements of the struggle itself, to 
that degree which the public safety im- 
peratively demands. It is not the privi- 
lege of states in their infancy to accom- 
plish this result. Not that any essential 
power is in them absolutely disregard- 
ed and annihilated ; on the contrary, all 
powers are found in full activity; but they 
manifest themselves in a confused man- 



OF WASHINGTON. V 

ner, each one in its own behalf, without 
necessary connexion or any just propor- 
tion, and in a way to bring on, not the 
struggle which leads to harmony, but 
the disorder which renders war inevitable. 
In the infancy of the English colonies, 
three different powers are found, side 
by side with their liberties, and conse- 
crated by the same charters, — the crown, 
the proprietary founders, whether compa- 
nies or individuals, and the mother coun- 
try. The crown, by virtue of the mon- 
archical principle, and with its traditions, 
derived from the Church and the Empire. 
The proprietary founders, to whom the 
territory had been granted, by virtue of 
the feudal principle, which attaches a 
considerable portion of sovereignty to the 
proprietorship of the soil. The mother 
country, by virtue of the colonial prin- 
ciple, which, at all periods and among all 
nations, by a natural connexion between 



10 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

facts and opinions, has given to the moth- 
er country a great influence over the 
population proceeding from its bosom. 

From the very commencement, as well 
in the course of events as in the char- 
ters, there was great confusion among 
these various powers, by turns exalted or 
depressed, united or divided, sometimes 
protecting, one against another, the colo- 
nists and their franchises, and sometimes 
assailing them in concert. In the course 
of these confused changes, all sorts of 
pretexts were assumed, and facts of all 
kinds cited, in justification and support 
either of their acts or their pretensions. 

In the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, when the monarchical principle was 
overthrown in England in the person of 
Charles the First, one might be led to 
suppose, for a moment, that the colo- 
nies would take advantage of this to free 
themselves entirely from its control. In 



OF WASHINGTON. 11 

point of fact, some of them, Massachu- 
setts especially, settled by stern Puritans, 
showed themselves disposed, if not to 
break every tie w^hich bound them to 
the mother country, at least to govern 
themselves, alone, and by their own laws. 
But the Long Parliament, by force of the 
colonial principle, and in virtue of the 
rights of the crown which it inherited, 
maintained, with moderation, the suprema- 
cy of Great Britain. Cromwell, succeed- 
ing to the power of the Long Parliament, 
exercised it in a more striking manner, 
and, by a judicious and resolute prin- 
ciple of protection, prevented or repressed, 
in the colonies, both royalist and Puritan, 
every faint aspiration for independence. 
This was to him an easy task. The 
colonies, at this period, were feeble and 
divided. Virginia, in 1640, did not con- 
tain more than three or four thousand in- 
habitants, and in 1660 hardly thirty thou- 



12 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

sand.* Maryland had at most only twelve 
thousand. In these two provinces the 
royalist party had the ascendency, and 
greeted with joy the Restoration. In Mas- 
sachusetts, on the other hand, the general 
feeling was republican ; the fugitive re- 
gicides, Goffe and Whalley, found there 
favor and protection ; and, when the local 
government were compelled to proclaim 
Charles the Second as king, they forbade, 
at the same time, all tumultuous assem- 
blies, all kinds of merry-making, and even 
the drinking of the King's health. There 
was, at that time, neither the moral uni- 
ty, nor the physical strength, necessary to 
the foundation of a state. 

After 1688, when England was final- 
ly in possession of a free government, 
the colonies felt but slightly its advan- 

* Marshall's Life of Jfashington, edition of 1805, Vol. 
I. p. 76. Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. I. 
pp. 210, 232, 265. 



OF WASHINGTON. 13 

tages. The charters, which Charles the 
Second and James the Second had either 
taken away or impaired, were but imper- 
fectly and partially restored to them. The 
same confusion prevailed, the same strug- 
gles arose between the different powers. 
The greater part of the governors, coming 
from Europe, temporarily invested with 
the prerogatives and pretensions of royal- 
ty, displayed them with more arrogance 
than power, in an administration, general- 
ly speaking, inconsistent, irritating, seldom 
successful, frequently marked by grasping 
selfishness, and a postponement of the in- 
terests of the public to petty personal 
quarrels. 

Moreover, it was henceforth not the 
crown alone, but the crown and the 
mother country united, with which the 
colonies had to deal. Their real sove- 
reign was no longer the king, but the 
king and the people of Great Britain, 



14 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

represented and mingled together in Par- 
liament. And the Parliament regarded 
the colonies with nearly the same eyes, 
and held, in respect to them, nearly the 
same language, as had lately been used 
towards the Parliament itself, by those 
kings whom it afterwards overcame. An 
aristocratic senate is the most intractable 
of masters. Every member of it possesses 
the supreme power, and no one is respon- 
sible for its exercise. 

In the mean time, the colonies were 
rapidly increasing in population, in wealth, 
in strength internally, and in importance 
externally. Instead of a few obscure es- 
tablishments, solely occupied with their 
own affairs, and hardly able to sustain 
their own existence, a people was now 
forming itself, whose agriculture, com- 
merce, enterprising spirit, and relative po- 
sition to other states, were giving them a 
place and consideration among men. The 



OF WASHINGTON. 15 

mother ' country, unable to govern them 
well, had neither the leisure nor the ill 
will to oppress them absolutely. She 
vexed and annoyed them without check- 
ing their growth. 

And the minds of men were expanded, 
and their hearts elevated, with the grow- 
ing fortunes of the country. By an admir- 
able law of Providence, there is a myste- 
rious connexion between the general con- 
dition of a country, and the state of feel- 
ing among the citizens ; a certain, though 
not obvious, bond of union, which connects 
their growth and their destinies, and 
which makes the farmer in his fields, the 
merchant in his counting-room, even the 
mechanic in his workshop, grow more con- 
fident and high-spirited, in proportion as 
the society, in whose bosom they dwell, 
is enlarged and strengthened. As early 
as 1692, the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts passed a resolution, " that no tax 



16 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

should be levied upon his Majesty's sub- 
jects in the colonies, without the consent 
of the Governor and Council, and the rep- 
resentatives in General Court assem- 
bled."* In 1704, the legislative assembly 
of New York made a similar declaration. f 
The government of Great Britain repel- 
led them, sometimes by its silence, and 
sometimes by its measures, which were al- 
ways a little indirect and reserved. The 
colonists were often silent in their turn, 
and did not insist upon carrying out their 
principles to their extreme consequen- 
ces. But the principles themselves were 
spreading among the colonial society, at 
the same time that the resources were in- 
creasing, which were destined, at a fu- 
ture day, to be devoted to their service, 
and to insure their triumph. 

Thus, when that day arrived, when 

* Story's Commentaries on the Constitution^ Vol. I. p. 62. 
t Marshall's Life of Jfashington, Vol. II. p. 17. 



OF WASHINGTON. 17 

George the Third and his Parliament, rath- 
er in a spirit of pride, and to prevent the 
loss of absolute power by long; disuse, 
than to derive any advantage from its ex- 
ercise, undertook to tax the colonies with- 
out their consent, a powerful, numerous, 
and enthusiastic party, — the national par- 
ty, — immediately sprang into being, ready 
to resist, in the name of right and of na- 
tional honor. 

It was indeed a question of right and 
of honor, and not of interest or physical 
well-being. The taxes w^ere light, and 
imposed no burden upon the colonists. 
But they belonged to that class of men 
who feel most keenly the wrongs which 
affect the mind alone, and who can find 
no repose while honor is unsatisfied. " For, 
Sir, what is it we are contending against ? 
Is it against paying the duty of three pence 
per pound on tea, because burdensome ? 
No ; it is the right only, that we have all 
2 



18 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

a'ong disputed."* Such was, at the com- 
mencement of the quarrel, the language 
of Washington himself, and such was the 
public sentiment, — a sentiment founded 
in sound policy, as well as moral sense, 
and manifesting as much judgment as 
virtue. 

An instructive spectacle is presented to 
our contemplation, in the number of pub- 
lic associations, which at that time were 
formed in the colonies ; — associations, 
local or general, accidental or permanent ; 
chambers of burgesses and of representa- 
tives, conventions, committees, and con- 
gresses. Men of very different charac- 
ters and dispositions there met together ; 
some, full of respect and attachment to 
the mother country, others, ardently de- 
voted to that American country which 



* Washington, to Bryan Fairfax, Washington's IVri- 
tings, Vol. 11. p. 392. 



OF WASHINGTON. 19 

was growing up under their ejes and bj 
the labor of their own hands ; the former, 
anxious and dejected, the latter, confident 
and enthusiastic, but all moved and unit- 
ed by the same elevated sentiment, and 
the same resolution to resist ; giving the 
freest utterance to their various views 
and opinions, without its producing any 
deep or permanent division ; on the con- 
trary, respecting in each other the rights 
of freedom, discussing together the great 
question of the country w^ith that con- 
scientious purpose, that spirit of justice 
and discretion, wdiich gave them assurance 
of success, and diminished the cost of its 
purchase. In June, 1775, the first Con- 
gress, assembled at Philadelphia, took 
measures for the publication of a solemn 
declaration, for the purpose of justifying 
the taking up of arms. Tw^o members, 
one from Virginia, and one from Penn- 
sylvania, were a part of the committee 



20 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

charged with the duty of drawing it up. 
" I prepared," relates Mr. Jefferson him- 
self, " a draft of the declaration com- 
mitted to us. It was too strong for Mr. 
Dickinson. He still retained the hope of 
reconciliation with the mother country, 
and was unwilling it should be lessened 
by offensive statements. He was so hon- 
est a man, and so able a one, that he was 
greatly indulged, even by those who could 
not feel his scruples. We therefore re- 
quested him to take the paper, and put it 
into a form he could approve. He did so; 
preparing an entire new statement, and 
preserving of the former only the last 
four paragraphs, and half of the preceding 
one. We approved and reported it to 
Congress, who accepted it. Congress 
gave a signal proof of their indulgence to 
Mr. Dickinson, and of their great desire 
not to go too fast for any respectable part 
of our body, in permitting him to draw 



OF WASHINGTON. 21 

their second petition to the King accord- 
ing to his own ideas, and passing it with 
scarcely an amendment. The disgust 
against its humility was general ; and 
Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage 
was the only circumstance that recon- 
ciled them to it. The vote being passed, 
although further observation on it was out 
of order, he could not refrain from rising 
and expressing his satisfaction, and con- 
cluded by saying, ' There is but one word, 
Mr. President, in the paper, which I dis- 
approve, and that is the word Congress ; ' 
on which Benjamin Harrison rose and 
said, ' There is but one word in the paper, 
Mr. President, of which I approve, and 
that is the word Congress.'^ "^^ ^ 

Such a unanimity of feeling in the midst 
of so much liberty was not a short-lived 
wisdom, the happy influence of the first 

* Jefferson's Memoirs, Vol. T. pp. 9, 10. 



22 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

burst of enthusiasm. During the period of 
nearly ten years, which the great contest 
occupied, men the most unlike, who 
were ranked under the banners of the 
same national party, young and old, en- 
thusiastic and calm, continued to act thus 
in concert, one portion being sufficiently 
wise, and the other sufficiently firm, to 
prevent a rupture. And when, forty-six 
years afterwards,* after having taken part 
in the violent struggle between the par- 
ties which American liberty gave birth to, 
himself the head of the victorious party, 
Mr. Jeffiirson called up anew the recollec- 
tions of his youth, we may be sure, that 
it was not without mingled emotions of 
pain and pleasure, that he recurred to these 
noble examples of moderation and justice. 
Insurrection, resistance to established 

authority, and the enterprise of forming a 

_^i 

" Mr. Jefferson wrote his Memoirs in 1821. 



OF WASHINGTON. 23 

new government, are matters of grave im- 
portance to men like these, to all men of 
sense and virtue. Those who have the 
most forecast never calculate its whole 
extent. The boldest would shudder in 
their hearts, could they foresee all the 
dangers of the undertaking. Indepen- 
dence was not the premeditated purpose, 
not even the wish, of the colonies. A 
few bold and sagacious spirits either saw 
that it would come, or expressed their de- 
sire for it, after the period of resistance 
under the forms of law had passed. But 
the American people did not aspire to it, 
and did not urge their leaders to make 
claim to it. *' ' For all what you Ameri- 
cans say of your loyalty,' observed the 
illustrious Lord Camden, at that tiaie 
Mr. Pratt, ' I know you will one day 
throw off your dependence upon this 
country ; and, notwithstanding your boast- 
ed affection to it, will set up for inde- 



24 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

pendence.' Franklin answered, ' No such 
idea is entertained in the minds of the 
Americans ; and no such idea will ever 
enter their heads, unless jou grossly abuse 
them.' 'Very true,' replied Mr. Pratt, 
' that is one of the main causes I see will 
happen, and will produce the event.' " * 
Lord Camden was ri2:ht in his con- 
jectures. English America was grossly 
abused; and yet, in 1774, and even in 
1775, hardly a year before the declara- 
tion of independence, and when it was 
becoming inevitable, Washington and Jef- 
ferson thus wrote ; " Although you are 
taught, I say, to believe, that the people 
of Massachusetts are rebellious, setting 
up for independency, and what not, give 
me leave, my good friend, to tell you, that 

you are abused, grossly abused 

I can announce it as a fact, that it is not 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 49G. 



OF WASHINGTON. 25 

the wish or interest of that government, 
or any other upon this continent, sepa- 
rately or collectively, to set up for inde- 
pendence ; but this you may, at the same 
time, rely on, that none of them will ever 
submit to the loss of those valuable rights 
and privileges, which are essential to the 
happiness of every free state, and without 
which, life, liberty, and property are ren- 
dered totally insecure." * "Believe me, 
dear Sir, there is not in the British em- 
pire a man, who more cordially loves a 
union with great Britain, than I do. But, 
by the God that made me, I will cease to 
exist before I will yield to a connexion on 
such terms as the British Parliament pro- 
pose, and, in this, I think I speak the sen- 
timents of America. We want neither 
inducement nor power to declare and as- 
sert a separation. It is will alone, which 

* Letter to Robert Mackenzie, 9 October, 1774 ; 
Wasbington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 400. 



26 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

is wanting, and that is growing apace, 
under the fostering hand of our King." * 
George the Third, in point of fact, 
pledged to the course he was pursuing, 
and acting under the influence of passion- 
ate obstinacy, animated and sustained his 
ministers and the Parliament in the strug- 
gle. In vain were fresh petitions constant- 
ly presented to him, always loyal and re- 
spectful without insincerity ; in vain was 
his name commended to the favor and 
protection of God, in the services of reli- 
gion, according to usual custom. He paid 
no attention, either to the prayers which 
were made to him, or to those which 
were offered to Heaven in his behalf; and 
by his order the war continued, without 
ability, without vigorous and well-com- 
bined efforts, but with that hard and 



* Letter to Mr. Randolph, 29 November, 1775 ; Jef- 
ferson's Memoirs and Correspondence, Vol. I. p. 153. 



OF WASHINGTON. 27 

haughty obsthiacy, which destroys in the 
heart all affection as well as hope. 

Evidently the day had arrived, when 
power had forfeited its claim to loyal obe- 
dience ; and when the people were called 
upon to protect themselves by force, no 
longer finding in the established order of 
things either safety or shelter. Such a mo- 
ment is a fearful one, big with unknown 
events; one, which no human sagacity can 
predict, and no human government can 
control, but which, notwithstanding, does 
sometimes come, bearing an impress stamp- 
ed by the hand of God. If the struggle, 
which begins at such a moment, were one 
absolutely forbidden ; if, at the mysterious 
point in which it arises, this great social 
duty did not press even upon the heads 
of those who deny its existence, the hu- 
man race, long ago, wholly fallen under 
the yoke, would have lost all dignity as 
well as all happiness. 



28 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

Nor was there wanting another condi- 
tion, also essential, to the legitimate char- 
acter of the insurrection of the English 
colonies. They had a reasonable chance 
of success. 

No vigorous hand, at that time, had the 
management of public affairs in England. 
The cabinet of Lord North was not re- 
markable for talent or generosity of feel- 
ing. The only eminent man in the coun- 
try. Lord Chatham, was in the opposi- 
tion. 

The times of extreme tyranny had gone 
by. Proscriptions, judicial and military 
cruelties, a general and systematic laying 
waste of the country ; all those terrible 
measures, those atrocious sufferings, which 
a little while before in the heart of Europe, 
in a cause equally just, had been inflict- 
ed upon the Hollanders, would not have 
been tolerated in the eighteenth century, 
by the spectators of the American con- 



OF WASHINGTON. 29 

test, and, indeed, were never thought of by 
those who were the most fiercely engaged 
in it. On the contrary, a powerful party 
was formed, and eloquent voices were 
constantly lifted up, in the British Parlia- 
ment itself, in support of the colonies and 
of their rights. This is the glory and 
distinction of a representative govern- 
ment, that it insures to every cause its 
champions, and brings even into the arena 
of politics those defences, which were in- 
stituted for the sanctuary of the laws. 

Europe, moreover, could not be a pas- 
sive spectator of such a struggle. Two 
great powers, France and Spain, had seri- 
ous losses and recent injuries in America 
itself to avenge upon England. Two pow- 
ers, whose greatness was of recent growth, 
Russia and Prussia, displayed in favor of 
liberal opinions a sympathy which was en- 
lightened, though a little ostentatious, and 
showed themselves disposed to seize the 



30 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

occasion of bringing discredit upon Eng- 
land, or of injuring her, in the name of 
liberty itself. A republic, formerly glori- 
ous and formidable, still rich and honored, 
Holland, could not fail to assist America 
against her ancient rival, with her capital 
and her credit. Finally, among the powers 
of an inferior rank, all those whose situa- 
tion rendered the maritime supremacy of 
England odious or injurious to them, could 
not but feel in favor of the new state a 
good will ; timid, perhaps, and without 
immediate effect, but still useful and en- 
couraging. 

By the rarest good fortune, at that time 
every thing united and acted in concert in 
favor of the insurgent colonies. Their 
cause was just, their strength already 
great, and iheir characters marked by 
prudence and morality. Upon tlieir own 
soil, laws and manners, old facts and 
modern opinions, united in sustaining and 



OF WASHINGTON. 31 

animating them in their purpose. Great 
alliances were preparing for them in Eu- 
rope. Even in the councils of the hostile 
mother country, they had powerful sup- 
port. Never, in the history of human so- 
cieties, had any new and contested right 
received so much favor, and engaged in 
the strife with so many chances of suc- 
cess. 

Still by how many obstacles was this 
undertaking oppose ! What efforts and 
sacrifices did it cost to the generation 
which was charged with the duty of ac- 
complishing it ! How many times did it 
appear to be, and indeed really was, on 
the point of being utterly defeated ! 

In the country itself, among the people 
in appearance and sometimes in reality 
so unanimous, independence, when once 
declared, soon met numerous and active 
adversaries. In 1775, hardly had the first 
guns been fired at Lexington, when, in the 



32 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

midst of the general enthusiasm, a compa- 
ny of Connecticut troops was requisite in 
New York, to sustain the republican party 
against the Tories or Loyalists, a name 
which the partisans of the mother coun- 
try had proudly adopted.^ In 1775, New 
York sent important supplies to the Eng- 
lish army under the orders of General 
Gage.f In 1776, when General Howe ar- 
rived upon the shores of the same province, 
a crowd of inhabitants manifested their 
joy, renewed the oath of fidelity to the 
crown, and took up arms in its behalf. t 
The feeling was the same in New Jersey, 
and the Loyalist corps, levied in these two 
provinces, equalled in numbers the contin- 
gents furnished by them to the republican 
armies.^ In the midst of this population, 

* ]\Tarsh all's Life of Washington, Vol. II. p. 187. 
t Ibid., Vol. II. p. 229. I Ibid., Vol. II. p. 381. 

§ Ibid., Vol. III. p. 47. Sparks's Life of Washington, 
Vol. I. p. 261. 



OF WASHINGTON. 33 

Washington himself was not in safety ; a 
conspiracy was formed to deliver him up 
to the English, and some members of his 
own guard were found to be engaged in 
it.^ Maryland and Georgia were divided. 
In North and South Carolina, in 1776 
and 1779, two Loyalist regiments, one of 
fifteen hundred, and the other of seven 
hundred men, were formed in a few days. 
Against these domestic hostilities. Con- 
gress and the local governments used, at 
first, extreme moderation ; rallying the 
friends of independence without troubling 
themselves with its opponents ; demand- 
ing nothing from those who would have 
refused ; everywhere exerting themselves 
by means of writings, correspondence, as- 
sociations, and the sending of commis- 
sioners into the doubtful counties, to con- 
firm their minds, to remove their scruples, 

* Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. II. p. 364. 
3 



34 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

and to demonstrate to them the justice of 
their cause, and the necessity there was 
for the steps they had taken. For, gen- 
erally, the Loyalist party was founded 
upon sincere and honorable sentiments ; 
fidelity, affection, gratitude, respect for 
tradition, and a love of established order; 
and from such sentiments it derived its 
strength. For some time the government 
contented itself with watching over this 
party and keeping it under restraint ; in 
some districts, they even entered into 
treaty with it, to secure its neutrality. 
But the course of events, the imminence 
of the danger, the urgent need of assist- 
ance, and the irritation of the passions, 
soon led to a more rigorous course. Ar- 
rests and banishment became frequent. 
The prisons were filled. Confiscations of 
property commenced. Local committees 
of public safety disposed of the liberty of 
their fellow-citizens, on the evidence of 



OF WASHINGTON. 35 

general' notoriety. Popular violence, in 
more than one instance, was added to the 
arbitrary severities of the magistrates. A 
printer in New York was devoted to the 
cause of the Loyalists ; a troop of horse- 
men, who had come from Connecticut for 
that purpose, broke his presses and car- 
ried off his types.* The spirit of hatred 
and vengeance was awakened. In Geor- 
gia and South Carolina, on the western 
frontier of Connecticut and of Pennsylva- 
nia, the struggle between the two parties 
was marked with cruelty. Notwithstand- 
ing the legitimate character of the cause, 
notwithstanding the virtuous wisdom of its 
leaders, the infant republic was experi- 
encing the horrors of a civil war. 

Evils and dangers, still more serious, 
were every day springing from the nation- 
al party itself. The motives which led 

* Marshall's lAfe of Washington, Vol. II. p. 240. 



36 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

to the insurrection were pure ; too pure 
to consist for any length of time, among 
the mass at least, with the imperfections 
of humanity. When the people were 
appealed to in the name of rights to be 
maintained, and honor to be saved, the 
first impulse was a general one. But, 
however great may be the favor of Provi- 
dence in such great enterprises, the toil is 
severe, success is slow, and the general- 
ity of men soon become exhausted through 
weariness or impatience. The colonists 
had not taken up arms to escape from any 
atrocious tyranny; they had not, like their 
ancestors in fleeing from England, the 
first privileges of life to regain, personal 
security and religious toleration. They 
were no longer stimulated by any urgent 
personal motive ; there were no social 
spoils to be divided, no old and deep- 
seated passions to gratify. The contest 
was prolonged without creating in thou- 



OF WASHINGTON. 37 

sands of retired families those powerful 
interests, those coarse but strong ties, 
which, in our old and violent Europe, 
have so often given to revolutions their 
force and their misery. Every day, al- 
most every step towards success, on the 
contrary, called for new efforts and new 
sacrifices. *' I believe, or at least I hope," 
wrote V/ashington, " that there is public 
virtue enough left among us to deny our- 
selves every thing but the bare necessaries 
of life, to accomplish this end." " A sublime 
hope, one which deserved to be rewarded 
as it was, by the triumph of the cause, 
but which could not raise to its own lofty 
elevation all that population, whose free 
and concurring support was the condition, 
and indeed the only means, of success. 
Depression, lukewarmness, inactivity, the 



* Letter to Bryan Fairfax ; Washington's Writings^ 
Vol. II. p. 395. 



38 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

desire to escape from labors and expenses, 
soon became the essential evil, the press- 
ing danger, against which the leaders had 
constantly to struggle. In point of fact, 
it was among the leaders, in the front 
ranks of the party, that enthusiasm and 
devotedness were maintained. In other 
instances of similar events, the impulse 
of perseverance and self-sacrifice has come 
from the people. In America, it was the 
independent and enlightened classes, who 
were obliged to animate and sustain the 
people in the great contest in which they 
were engaged for their country's sake. 
In the ranks of civil life, the magistrates, 
the rich planters, the leading merchants, 
and, in the army, the officers, always 
showed themselves the most ardent and 
the most firm ; from them, example as 
well as counsel proceeded, and the peo- 
ple at large followed them with diffi- 
culty, instead of urging them on. " Take 



OF WASHINGTON. 39 

none for officers but gentlemen ^'^'^ was 
the recommendation of Washington, after 
the war had lasted three years.* So 
fully had he been taught by experience, 
that these were everywhere devoted to 
the cause of independence, and ready to 
risk every thing and suffer every thing to 
insure its success. 

These, too, were the only persons who, 
at least on their own account, could sus- 
tain the expenses of the war, for the State 
made no provision for them. Perhaps no 
army ever lived in a more miserable con- 
dition than the American army. Almost 
constantly inferior in numbers to the 
enemy ; exposed to a periodical and, in 
some sort, legalized desertion ; called upon 
to march, encamp, and fight, in a country 
of immense extent, thinly peopled, in 
parts uncultivated, through vast swamps 

* In his instructions to Colonel George Baylor, 9th of 
January, 1777 ; Washington's Writings, Vol. IV. p. 269. 



40 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

and savage forests, without magazines of 
provisions, often without money to pur- 
chase them, and without the power to 
make requisitions of them ; obliged, in 
carrying on war, to treat the inhabitants, 
and to respect them and their property, as 
if it had consisted of troops in garrison in 
a time of peace, this army was exposed 
to great exigencies, and a prey to un- 
heard-of sufferings. *' For some days," 
writes Washington, in 1777, "there 
has been little less than a famine in 
camp. A part of the army have been 
a week without any kind of flesh, and 
the rest three or four days. The sol- 
diers are naked and starving." 

"We find gentlemen reprobating the meas- 
ure of going into winter quarters ; as 
much as if they thought the soldiers were 
made of stocks or stones, and equally in- 
sensible of frost and snow ; and, moreover, 
as if they conceived it easily practicable, 



OF WASHINGTON. 41 

for an inferior army, under the disadvan- 
tages I have described ours to be, to con- 
fine a superior one, in all respects well- 
appointed and provided for a winter's cam- 
paign, within the city of Philadelphia, and 
to cover from depredation and waste the 

States of Pennsylvania and Jersey." 

'' I can assure those gentlemen, that it 
is a much easier and less distressing thing 
to draw remonstrances in a comfortable 
room by a good fireside, than to occupy a 
cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost 
and snow, without clothes or blankets. I 
feel superabundantly for the poor soldiers, 
and, from my soul, I pity those miseries 
which it is neither in my power to relieve 
nor prevent." * 

Congress, to whom he applied, could 
do hardly more than he himself. Without 
the strength necessary to enforce the exe- 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. V. pp. 199,200. 



42 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

cutioii of its orders ; without the power 
of passing any laws upon the subject of 
taxes ; obliged to point out the necessi- 
ties of the country, and to solicit the 
thirteen confederated States to provide 
for them, in the face of an exhausted 
people, a ruined commerce, and a de- 
preciated paper currency ; this assembly, 
though firm and prudent, was often able 
to do nothing more than address new en- 
treaties to the States, and clothe Wash- 
ington with new powers ; instructing him 
to obtain from the local governments, re- 
inforcements, money, provisions, and ev- 
ery thing requisite to carry on the war. 

Washington accepted this difficult trust ; 
and he soon found a new obstacle to sur- 
mount, a new danger to remove. No 
bond of union, no central power, had 
hitherto united the colonies. Each one 
having been founded and governed separ- 
ately, each, on its own account, provid- 



OF WASHINGTON. 43 

ing for its own safety, for its public 
works, for its most trifling as well as most 
important affairs, they had contracted hab- 
its of isolation and almost of rivalship, 
which the distrustful mother country had 
taken pains to foster. In their relations 
to each other, even ambition and the de- 
sire of conquest insinuated themselves, 
as if the States had been foreign to each 
other ; the most powerful ones some- 
times attempted to absorb the neighbour- 
ing establishments, or to deprive them 
of their authority ; and in their most im- 
portant interest, the defence of their fron- 
tiers against the savages, they often fol- 
lowed a selfish course of policy, and mu- 
tually abandoned one another. 

It w^as a most arduous task to combine 
at once, into one system, elements which 
had hitherto been separated, without hold- 
ing them together by violence, and, while 
leaving them free, to induce them to act in 



44 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

concert under the guidance of one and the 
same power. The feelings of individuals 
no less than public institutions, passions 
as well as law^s, were opposed to this re- 
sult. The colonies wanted confidence in 
each other. All of them were jealous of 
the power of Congress, the new and un- 
tried rival of the local assemblies ; they 
were still more jealous of the army, which 
they regarded as being, at the same time, 
dangerous to the independence of the 
States and to the liberty of the citizens. 
Upon this point, new and enlightened 
opinions were in unison with popular 
feeling. The danger of standing armies, 
and the necessity, in free countries, of 
perpetually resisting and diminishing their 
power, their influence, and the contagion 
of their morals, was one of the favorite 
maxims of the eighteenth century. No- 
where, perhaps, was this maxim more 
generally or more warmly received than 



OF WASHINGTON. 45 

in the colonies of America. In the bosom 
of the national party, those who were the 
most ardent, the most firmly resolved to 
carry on the contest with vigor and to the 
end, were also the most sensitive friends 
of civil liberty ; that is to say, these were 
the men, w^io looked upon the army, a 
military spirit, military discipline, with the 
most hostile and suspicious eye. Thus it 
happened, that obstacles were met with 
precisely in that quarter in which it was 
natural to look for, and to expect to find, 
the means of success. 

And in this army itself, the object of 
so much distrust, there prevailed the 
most independent and democratic spirit. 
All orders were submitted to discussion. 
Each company claimed the privilege of 
acting on its own account and for its 
own convenience. The troops of the dif- 
ferent States were unwilling to obey any 
other than their own generals; and the 



46 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

soldiers, any other than officers, some- 
times directly chosen, and always at 
least approved, by themselves. And the 
day after a defeat which it was necessary 
to retrieve, or a victory which was to be 
followed up, whole regiments would break 
up and go home, it being impossible to 
prevail upon them to wait even a few days 
for the arrival of their successors. 

A painful doubt, mingled with appre- 
hension, arises in the mind at the con- 
templation of the many and severe suf- 
ferings with which the course of the most 
just revolution is attended, and of the 
many and perilous chances to which a 
revolution, the best prepared for success, 
is exposed. But this doubt is rash and 
unjust. Man, through pride, is blind in 
his confident expectation, and, through 
weakness, is no less blind in his despair. 
The most just and successful revolution 
brings into light the evil, physical and 



OF WASHINGTON. 47 

moral, always great, which lies hidden in 
every human society. But the good does 
not perish in this trial, nor in the unholy 
connexion which it is thus led to form ; 
however imperfect and alloyed, it pre- 
serves its power as w^ell as its rights ; if 
it be the leading principle in men, it pre- 
vails, sooner or later, in events also, and 
instruments are never wanting to accom- 
plish its victory. 

Let the people of the United States for 
ever hold in respectful and grateful remem- 
brance, the leading men of that genera- 
tion which achieved their independence, 
and founded their government ! Frank- 
lin, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, 
Jay, Henry, Mason, Greene, Knox, Mor- 
ris, Pinckney, Clinton, Trumbull, Rut- 
ledge ; it w^ould be impossible to enumer- 
ate them all ; for, at the time the contest 
began, there were in each colony, and in 
almost every county in each colony, some 



48 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

men already honored by their fellow citi- 
zens, already well known in the defence 
of public liberty, influential by their prop- 
erty, talent, or character ; faithful to an- 
cient virtues, yet friendly to modern im- 
provement ; sensible to the splendid ad- 
vantages of civilization, and yet attached 
to simplicity of manners ; high-toned in 
their feelings, but of modest minds, at 
the same time ambitious and prudent in 
their patriotic impulses ; men of rare en- 
dowments, who expected much from hu- 
manity, without presuming too much upon 
themselves, and who risked for their 
country far more than they could receive 
from her, even after her triumph. 

It was to these men, aided by God and 
seconded by the people, that the success 
of the cause was due. Among ihem, 
Washington was the chief. 

AVhile yet young, indeed very young, he 
had become an object of great expectation. 



OF WASHINGTON. 49 

Employed as an officer of militia in some 
expeditions to the western frontier of 
Virginia against the French and Indians, 
he had made an equal impression on his su- 
periors and his companions, the English 
governors and the American people. The 
former wrote to London to recommend him 
to the favor of the King.* The latter, as- 
sembled in their churches, to invoke the 
blessing of God upon their arms, listened 
with enthusiasm to an eloquent preacher, 
Samuel Davies, who, in praising the cour- 
age of the Virginians, exclaimed, "As a re- 
markable instance of this, I may point out 
to the public that heroic youth. Colonel 
Washington, whom I cannot but hope 
Providence has hitherto preserved in so 
signal a manner for some important ser- 
vice to his country."! 

It is also related, that fifteen years af- 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 97. 
t August 17th, 1755. Ibid., Vol. II. p. 89. 
4 



50 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

tervvards, in a journey which Washington 
made to the West, when on the banks of 
the Ohio, an old Indian at the head of his 
tribe requested to see him, and told him 
that, at the battle of Monongahela, he had 
several times discharged his rifle at him, 
and directed his warriors to do the same ; 
but, to their great surprise, their balls had 
no effect. Convinced that Washington 
was under the protection of the Great 
Spirit, he had ceased to fire at him, and 
had now come to pay his respects to a 
man who, by the peculiar favor of Heaven, 
could never die in battle. 

Men are fond of thinking that Provi- 
dence has permitted them to penetrate its 
secret purposes. The anecdote of the old 
chief became current in America, and 
formed the subject of a drama, called The 
Indian Prophecy,^ 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 475. 



OF WASHINGTON. 51 

Never, perhaps, was this vague expec- 
tation, this premature confidence in the 
destiny, I hardly venture to say the pre- 
destination, of any individual more natu- 
ral, than in the case of Washington ; for 
there never was a man who appeared to be, 
and who really was, from his youth, and in 
his early actions, more consistent with his 
future career, and more adapted to the 
cause, upon which he was destined to be- 
stow success. 

He was a planter by inheritance and 
inclination, and devoted to those agricul- 
tural interests, habits, and modes of life, 
which constituted the chief strength of 
American society. Fifty years later, Jef- 
ferson, in order to justify his confidence in 
the purely democratic organization of this 
society, said, '* It cannot deceive us as 
long as we remain virtuous, and I think 
we shall, as long as agriculture is our 



52 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

principal object."* From the age of 
twenty years, Washington considered ag- 
riculture as his principal employment, 
making himself well acquainted with the 
prevalent tone of feeling, and sympathiz- 
ing with the virtuous and simple habits of 
his country. Travelling, field-sports, the 
survey of distant tracts of land, inter- 
course, friendly or hostile, with the Indi- 
ans on the frontier, these formed the 
amusements of his youth. He was of that 
bold and hardy temperament, which takes 
pleasure in those adventures and perils, 
which, in a vast and wild country, man has 
to encounter. He had that strength of 
body, perseverance, and presence of mind, 
which insure success. 

In this respect, at his entrance into life, 
he felt a slightly presumptuous degree of 
self-confidence. He writes to Governor 

* Edinburgh RevieWj July, 1830, p. 498. 



OF WASHINGTON. 53 

Dinwiddle ; "For my own part I can an- 
swer, that I have a constitution hardy 
enough to encounter and undergo the most 
severe trials, and, I flatter myself, resolu- 
tion to face what any man dares."* 

To a spirit like this, war was a more 
congenial employment than field-sports or 
travelling. As soon as an opportunity of- 
fered, he embraced the employment wdth 
that ardor, which, in the early period of 
life, does not reveal a man's capacity so 
certainly as his taste. In 1754, it is 
said, when George the Second was hear- 
ing a despatch read, which had been 
transmitted by the Governor of Virginia, 
and in which Washington, then a young 
major, ended the narrative of his first bat- 
tle with the words, *' I heard the bullets 
whistle, and, believe me, there is some- 
thing charming in the sound ; " the King 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 29. 



54 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

observed, " He would not say so, if he had 
been used to hear many." Washington 
was of the King's opinion ; for, when the 
major of the Virginia militia had become 
the Commander-in-chief of the United 
States, some one having asked him if it 
were true, that he had ever expressed 
such a sentiment, he replied, " If I said 
so, it was when I was young."* 

But his youthful ardor, which was at the 
same time serious and calm, had the author- 
ity which belongs to a riper age. From the 
first moment in which he embraced the mil- 
itary profession, he took pleasure, far more 
than in the excitement of battle, in that 
noble exercise of the understanding and 
the will, armed with power in order to 
accomplish a worthy purpose, that power- 
ful combination of human action and good 
fortune, which kindles and inspires the 
most elevated as well as the most simple 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 39. 



OF WASHINGTON. 55 

minds. Born in the first rank of colonial 
society, trained in the public schools in 
the midst of his countrymen, he took his 
place naturally at their head ; for he was at 
once their superior and their equal; formed 
to the same habits, skilled in the same ex- 
ercises ; a stranger, like them, to all ele- 
gant learning, without any pretensions 
to scientific knowledge, claiming nothing 
for himself, and exerting only in the public 
service that ascendency, which always 
attends a judicious and penetrating un- 
derstanding, and a calm and energetic 
character, in a disinterested position. 

In 1754, he was just appearing in 
society, and entering upon his military 
career. It is a young officer of two-and- 
twenty, who commands battalions of mi- 
litia, and corresponds with the represen- 
tative of the king of England. In neither 
of these relations does he feel any em- 
barrassment. He loves his associates; 



56 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

he respects the king and the governor ; 
but neither affection nor respect alters the 
independence of his judgment or of his 
conduct. By an admirable, instinctive 
power of action and command, he sees 
and apprehends, by what means and upon 
what terms success is to be obtained in 
the enterprise he has undertaken on be- 
half of his king and his country. And 
these terms he imposes, these means he 
insists upon : from the soldiers he exacts 
all that can be accomplished by discipline, 
promptness, and activity in the service ; 
from the governor, that he shall discharge 
his duty in respect to the pay of the 
soldiers, the furnishing of supplies, and 
the choice of ofticers. In every case, 
whether his words or opinions are sent up 
to the superior to whom he is rendering his 
account, or pass down to the subordinates 
under his command, they are equally 
precise, practical, and decided, equally 



OF WASHINGTON. 57 

marked by that authority which truth and 
necessity bestow upon the man who ap- 
pears in their name. From this moment, 
Washin2;ton is the leadins: American of 
his time, the faithful and conspicuous 
representative of his country, the man 
who will besf understand and best serve 
her, whether he be called upon to fight 
or negotiate for her, to defend or to gov- 
ern her. 

It is not the issue alone which has re- 
vealed this. His contemporaries fore- 
saw it. Colonel Fairfax, his first patron, 
wrote to him, in 1756, " Your good health 
and fortune are the toast at every table."* 
In 1759, chosen, for the first time, to 
the House of Burgesses in Virginia, at 
the moment when he was taking his seat 
in the House, the Speaker, Mr. Robin- 
son, presented to him, in warm and ani- 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. II. p. 145. 



58 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

mated terms, the thanks of the House for 
the services which he had rendered to his 
country. Washington rose to make his 
acknowledgments for so distinguished an 
honor ; but such was his embarrassment, 
that he could not speak a single word ; 
he blushed, hesitated, and trembled. The 
Speaker at once came to his aid, and 
said, " Sit down, Mr. Washington ; jour 
modesty equals your valor, and that sur- 
passes the power of any language that I 
possess."* Finally, in 1774, on the eve 
of the great struggle, after the separation 
of the first Congress held for the purpose 
of making preparations to meet it, Patrick 
Henry replied to those that inquired of 
him, who was the first man in Congress, 
" If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rut- 
ledge, of South Carolina, is the greatest 
orator ; but, if you speak of solid informa- 

* Sparks's Life of Washington^ Vol. I. p. 107. 



OF WASHINGTON. 59 

tion and' sound judgment, Colonel Wash- 
ington is unquestionably the greatest man 
on that floor." * 

However, to say nothing of eloquence, 
Washington had not those brilliant and 
extraordinary qualities, which strike the 
imagination of men at the first glance. 
He did not belong to the class of men of 
vivid genius, who pant for an opportunity 
of display, are impelled by great thoughts 
or great passions, and diffuse around 
them the wealth of their own natures, 
before any outward occasion or necessity 
calls for its employment. Free from all 
internal restlessness and the promptings 
and pride of ambition, Washington did not 
seek opportunities to distinguish himself, 
and never aspired to the admiration of 
the world. This spirit so resolute, this 
heart so lofty, was profoundly calm and 



Ibid. 



60 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

modest. Capable of rising to a level 
with the highest destiny, he might have 
lived in ignorance of his real power with- 
out suffering from it, and have found, in the 
cultivation of his estates, a satisfactory 
employment for those energetic faculties, 
which were to be proved equal to the task 
of commanding armies and founding a 
government. 

But, when the opportunity presented it- 
self, when the exigence occurred, with- 
out effort on his part, without any 
surprise on the part of others, indeed 
rather, as we have just seen, in con- 
formity with their expectations, the pru- 
dent planter stood forth a great man. 
He had, in a remarkable degree, those 
two qualities which, in active life, make 
men capable of great things. He could 
confide strongly in his own views, and act 
resolutely in conformity with them, with- 
out fearing to assume the responsibility. 



OF WASHINGTON. 61 

It is always a weakness of conviction, 
that leads to weakness of conduct; for 
man derives his motives from his own 
thoughts, more than from any other source. 
From the moment that the quarrel began, 
Washington was convinced, that the cause 
of his country was just, and that success 
must necessarily follow so just a cause, 
in a country already so powerful. Nine 
years were to be spent in war to obtain 
independence, and ten years in political 
discussion to form a system of government. 
Obstacles, reverses, enmities, treachery, 
mistakes, public indifference, personal an- 
tipathies, all these incumbered the progress 
of Washington, during this long period. 
But his faith and hope were never shaken 
for a moment. In the darkest hours, 
when he was obliged to contend against 
the sadness which hung upon his own 
spirits, he says, " I cannot but hope and 
believe, that the good sense of the people 



62 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

will ultimately get the better of their 

prejudices I do not believe, that 

Providence has done so much for nothing. 

The great Governor of the universe 

has led us too long and too far on the 
road to happiness and glory to forsake us 
in the midst of it. By folly and improper 
conduct, proceeding from a variety of 
causes, we may now and then get bewil- 
dered ; but I hope and trust, that there 
is good sense and virtue enough left to 
recover the right path before we shall be 
entirely lost." * 

And at a later period, when that very 
France which had so well sustained him 
during the war, brought upon him embar- 
rassments and perils more formidable than 
war; when Europe, upheaved from its 
foundations, was pressing heavily upon 
his thoughts, and perplexing his mind, no 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. pp. 5, 383, 392. 



OF WASHINGTON. 63 

less than America, he still continued to 
hope and to trust. '^ The rapidity of na- 
tional revolutions appears no less aston- 
ishing than their magnitude. In what 
they will terminate is known only to the 
Great Ruler of events ; and, confiding in 
his wisdom and goodness, we may safely 
trust the issue to him, without perplexing 
ourselves to seek for that, which is be- 
yond human ken; only taking care to per- 
form the parts assigned to us, in a way 
that reason and our own consciences ap- 
prove." * 

The same strength of conviction, the 
same fidelity to his own judgment, which 
he manifested in his estimate of things gen- 
erally, attended him in his practical man- 
agement of business. Possessing a mind 
of admirable freedom, rather in virtue of 
the soundness of its views, than of its fer- 

* Ibid., Vol. X. p. 331. 



64 CHARACTER AM) INFLUENCE 

tility and variety, he never received his 
opinions at second hand, nor adopted 
them from any prejudice ; but, on ev- 
ery occasion, he formed them himself, 
by the simple observation or attentive 
study of facts, unswayed by any bias 
or prepossession, always acquainting him- 
self personally with the actual truth. 

Thus, when he had examined, reflect- 
ed, and made up his mind, nothing dis- 
turbed him ; he did not permit himself to 
be thrown into, and kept in, a state of 
perpetual doubt and irresolution, either 
by the opinions of others, or by love of 
applause, or by fear of opposition. He 
trusted in God and in himself. " If any 
power on earth could, or the Great Power 
above would, erect the standard of infalli- 
bility in political opinions, there is no be- 
ing that inhabits the terrestrial globe, that 
would resort to it with more eagerness 
than myself, so long as I remain a servant 



OF WASHINGTOr^. 65 

of the pliblic. But as I have found no 
better guide hitherto, than upright inten- 
tions and close investigation, I shall ad- 
here to those maxims, while I keep the 
watch." * 

To this strong and independent under- 
standing, he joined a great courage, always 
ready to act upon conviction, and fearless of 
consequences. '' What I admire in Chris- 
topher Columbus," said Turgot, " is, not 
his having discovered the new world, but 
his having gone to search for it on the 
faith of an opinion." Whether the occa- 
sion was of great or little moment, wheth- 
er the consequences were near at hand or 
remote, Washington, when once convinced, 
never hesitated to move onward upon the 
faith of his conviction. One would have 
inferred, from his firm and quiet resolu- 
tion, that it was natural to him to act with 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XI. p. 71. 
5 



66 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

decision, and assume responsibility ; — 
a certain sign of a genius born to com- 
mand ; an admirable power, when united 
to a conscientious disinterestedness. 

On the list of great men, if the/e be 
some who have shone with a more daz- 
zling lustre, there are none who have 
been exposed to a more complete test, in 
war and in civil government ; resisting 
the king, in the cause of liberty, and the 
people, in the cause of legitimate authori- 
ty ; commencing a revolution and ending it. 
From the first moment, his task was clearly 
manifest in all its extent and all its diffi- 
culty. To carry on the war, he had not 
merely to create an army. To this work, 
always so difficult, the creating powder it- 
self was wanting. The United States had 
neither a government nor an army. Con- 
gress, a mere phantom, whose unity was 
only in name, had neither authority, nor 
power, nor courage, and did nothing. 



OF WASHINGTON. 67 

Washington was obliged, from his camp, 
not only to make constant solicitations, but 
to suggest measures for adoption, lo point 
out to Congress what course they should 
pursue, if thej would prevent both them- 
selves and the army from becoming an 
idle name. His letters were read while 
they were in session, and supplied the sub- 
ject of their debates; debates, character- 
ized by inexperience, timidity, and distrust. 
They rested satisfied with appearances 
and promises. They sent messages to 
the local governments. They expressed 
apprehensions of military power. Wash- 
ington replied respectfully, obeyed, and 
then insisted ; demonstrated the decep- 
tiveness of appearances, and the necessi- 
ty of a real force to give him the sub- 
stance of the power, of which he had 
the name, and to insure to the army the 
success which they expected of it. Brave 
and intelligent men, devoted to the cause, 



68 CHARACTER AKD mFLUENCE 

were not wanting in this assembly, so little 
experienced in the art of government. 
Some of them went to the camp, exam- 
ined for themselves, had interviews with 
Washington, and brought with them, on 
their return, the weight of their own ob- 
servations and of his advice. The assem- 
bly gradually grew wiser and bolder, and 
gained confidence in themselves and in their 
general. They adopted the measures, and 
conferred upon him the powers, which 
were necessary. He then entered into 
correspondence and negotiations with lo- 
cal governments, legislatures, committees, 
magistrates, and private citizens ; placing 
facts before their eyes ; appealing to their 
good sense and their patriotism ; availing 
himself, for the public service, of his per- 
sonal friendships; dealing prudently with 
democratic scruples and the sensitiveness 
of vanity ; maintaining his own dignity ; 
speaking as became his high station, but 



OF WASHINGTON. 69 

without giving offence, and with persua- 
sive moderation ; though wisely heedful of 
human weakness, being endowed with the 
power, to an extraordinary degree, of in- 
fluencing men by honorable sentiments and 
by truth. 

And when he had succeeded, when Con- 
gress first, and afterwards the different 
States, had granted him the necessary 
means of making an army, his task was not 
finished; the business of the war had not 
yet commenced ; the army did not exist. 
Here, too, he was obstructed by a com- 
plete inexperience, the same want of uni- 
ty, the same passion for individual inde- 
pendence, the same conflict between pa- 
triotic purposes and disorganizing im- 
pulses. Here, too, he was obliged to bring 
discordant elements into harmony ; to keep 
together those which were constantly 
ready to separate ; to enlighten, to per- 
suade, to induce ; to use personal influ- 



70 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

ence; and, without endangering his dignity 
or his power, to obtain the moral fidelity, 
the full and free support, both of the offi- 
cers and soldiers. Then only could Wash- 
ington act as a general, and turn his at- 
tention to the war. Or, rather, it was 
during the war, in the midst of its scenes, 
its perils, and its hazards, that he was 
constantly obliged to recommence, both 
in the country and the army itself, this 
work of organization and government. 

His military capacity has been called in 
question. He did not manifest, it is true, 
those striking displays of it which, in 
Europe, have given renown to great cap- 
tains. Operating with a small army over 
an immense space, great manoeuvres and 
great battles were necessarily unknown to 
him. But his superiority, acknowledged 
and declared by his companions, the con- 
tinuance of the war during nine years, and 
its final success, are also to be taken as 



OF WASHINGTON. 71 

proofs of his merit, and may well jus- 
tify his reputation. His personal bra- 
very was chivalrous even to rashness, 
and he more than once abandoned him- 
self to this impulse in a manner pain- 
ful to contemplate. More than once, 
the American militia, seized with terror, 
took to flight, and brave officers sac- 
rificed their lives to infuse courage into 
their soldiers. In 1776, on a similar occa- 
sion, Washington indignantly persisted in 
remaining on the field of battle, exerting 
himself to arrest the fugitives by his 
example and even by his hand. " We 
made," wrote General Greene the next 
day, " a miserable, disorderly retreat from 
New York, owing to the disorderly con- 
duct of the militia. Fellows's and Par- 
sons's brigades ran away from about fifty 
men, and left his Excellency on the 
ground within eighty yards of the enemy, 
so vexed at the infamous conduct of the 



72 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

troops, that he sought death rather than 
life."* 

On more than one occasion, also, when 
the opportunity appeared favorable, he dis- 
played the boldness of the general as well 
as the intrepidity of the man. He has been 
called the American Fabius, it being said 
that the art of avoiding battle, of baffling 
the enemy, and of temporizing, was his 
talent as well as his taste. In 1775, be- 
fore Boston, at the opening of the war, 
this Fabius wished to bring it to a close 
by a sudden attack upon the English 
army, which he flattered himself he should 
be able to destroy. Three successive 
councils of war, forced him to abandon his 
design, but without shaking his conviction, 
and he expressed bitter regret at the result. t 



* Washington's Writings, Vol. IV. p. 94. 
t Washington's Waitings, Vol. III. pp. 82, 127, 259, 
287,290,291,292,297. 



OF WASHINGTON. 73 

In 1776,111 the State of New York, when 
the weather was extremely cold, in the 
midst of a retreat, with troops half disband- 
ed, the greater part of whom were prepar- 
ing to leave him and return to their own 
homes, Washington suddenly assumed an 
offensive position, attacked, one after an- 
other, at Trenton and Princeton, the dif- 
ferent corps of the English army, and 
gained two battles in eight hours. 

Moreover, he understood what was even 
a much higher and much more difficult 
art, than that of making war; he knew 
how to control and direct it. War was to 
him only a means, always kept subordinate 
to the main and final object, — the success 
of the cause, the independence of the 
country. When, in 1798, the prospect of 
a possible war between the United States 
and France occurred to disturb the repose 
of Mount Vernon, though already ap- 
proaching to old age and fond of his retire- 



74 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

ment, lie thus wrote to ]\Ir. Adams, his 
successor in the administration of the re- 
public. *' It was not difficult for me to 
perceive that, if we entered into a serious 
contest with France, the character of the 
war would differ materially from the last 
we were engaged in. In the latter, time, 
caution, and worrying the enemy, until 
we could be better provided with arms 
and other means, and had better disci- 
plined troops to carry it on, was the plan 
for us. But if we should be engaged with 
the former, they ought to be attacked at 
every step." * 

This system of active and asfSfressive 
war, which, at the age of sixty-six, he 
proposed to adopt, was one which, twen- 
ty-two years before, in the vigor of life, 
neither the advice of some of the gen- 
erals, his friends, nor the slanders of some 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XL p. 309. 



OF WASHirsGTON. 76 

Others, his enemies, nor the complaints of 
the States which were laid waste by the 
enemy, nor popular clamor, nor the desire 
of glory, nor the recommendations of 
Congress itself, had been able to induce 
him to follow. *' I know the unhappy 
predicament I stand in ; I know that 
much is expected of me; I know, that 
without men, without arms, without am- 
munition, without any thing fit for the ac- 
commodation of a soldier, little is to be 
done ; and, what is mortifying, I know 
that I cannot stand justified to the world 
without exposing my own weakness, and 
injuring the cause, which I am determined 

not to do My own situation is so 

irksome to me at times, that, if I did not 
consult the public good more than my own 
tranquillity, I should, long ere this, have 
put every thing on the cast of a die."* 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. III. p. 284. 



76 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

He persisted in this course during nine 
years. Only when the protracted nature 
of the contest and the general indiffer- 
ence were occasioning a feeling of dis- 
couragement, akin to apathy, did he de- 
termine to strike a blow, to encounter 
some brilliant hazard, to make the coun- 
try aware of the presence of his army, and 
relieve the people's hearts of some of their 
apprehensions. It was thus that, in 1777, 
he fought the battle of Germantown. And 
when, in the midst of reverses, endured 
with heroic patience, he was asked what 
he should do if the enemy continued to 
advance, if Philadelphia, for instance, 
should be taken ; he replied, " We will 
retreat beyond the Susquehanna river, 
and thence, if necessary, to the Allegany 
mountains." * 

Besides this patriotic calmness and pa- 

* Sparks's Washington, Vol. I. p. 221. 



OF WASHINGTON. 77 

tience, he displayed the same quality in 
another form, still more praiseworthy. 
He saw, without chagrin and ill-humor, 
the successes of his inferiors in command. 
Still more, when the public service ren- 
dered it advisable, he supplied them large- 
ly with the means and opportunity of gain- 
ing them. A disinterestedness worthy of 
all praise, rarely found in the greatest 
minds ; as wise as it was noble, in the 
midst of the envious tendencies of a dem- 
ocratic society ; and which, perhaps, we 
may be permitted to hope, was in his case 
attended with a deep and tranquil con- 
sciousness of his superiority, and of the 
glory that would follow him. 

When the horizon was dark, when re- 
peated checks and a succession of misfor- 
tunes seemed to throw a doubt upon the 
capacity of the Commander-in-chief, and 
gave birth to disorders, intrigues, and hos- 
tile insinuations, a powerful voice was 



78 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

quickly raised in his behalf, — the voice 
of the army, which loaded Washington 
with testimonials of affectionate respect, 
and placed him beyond the reach of com- 
plaints and hostile attacks. 

In the winter of 1777 and 1778, while 
the army was encamped at Valley Forge, 
exposed to the most severe hardships, 
some restless and treacherous spirits or- 
ganized against Washington a conspiracy 
of considerable magnitude, which penetra- 
ted into the Congress itself. He opposed 
himself to it with stern frankness, saying, 
without reserve and without cautious in- 
sincerity, all he thought of his adversaries, 
and leaving his conduct to speak for itself. 
Such a course, at such a moment, was 
putting much at hazard. But the public 
respect in which he was held was so pro- 
found, the friends of Washington, Lord 
Stirling, Lafayette, Greene, Knox, Pat- 
rick Henry, Henry Laurens, supported 



OF WASHINGTON. 79 

him so warmly, the movement of opinion 
in the army was so decided, that he tri- 
umphed almost without defending him- 
self. The principal framer of this con- 
spiracy, an Irishman by the name of 
Conway, after having sent in his resig- 
nation, continued to spread against him 
the most injurious charges. General Cad- 
walader resented this conduct; a duel 
was the consequence ; and Conway, se- 
verely wounded, and believing himself to 
be near his death, wrote as follows, to 
Washington. 

"I find myself just able to hold the 
pen during a few minutes, and take this 
opportunity of expressing my sincere grief 
for having done, written, or said any 
thing disagreeable to your Excellency. 
My career will soon be over ; therefore 
justice and truth prompt me to declare 
my last sentiments. You are, in my eyes, 
the great and good man. May you long 



80 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

enjoy the love, veneration, and esteem of 
these States, whose liberties you have as- 
serted by your virtues."* 

In 1779, the officers of a New Jersey 
regiment, imperfectly paid, burdened with 
debts contracted in the service, anxious 
about their future prospects and those of 
their families, made an official declaration 
to the legislature of that State, that they 
would resign in a body, if they were not 
better treated. Washington blamed them 
extremely, and required of them to with- 
draw their declaration ; but they persisted 
in their course. " It was, and still is, our 
determination to march with our regi- 
ment, and to do the duty of officers, until 
the legislature should have a reasonable 
time to appoint others, but no longer. 
We beg leave to assure your Excellency, 
that we have the highest sense of your 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. V. p. 517. 



OF WASHINGTON. 81 

ability and virtues ; that executing jour 
orders has ever given us pleasure ; that we 
love the service, and love our country ; 
but when that country gets so lost to vir- 
tue and justice, as to forget to support its 
servants, it then becomes their duty to 
retire from its service." * 

Thus, respect for Washington appeared 
conspicuously, even in the cabals formed 
against him, and was mingled with dis- 
obedience itself. 

In the state of distress and disorganiza- 
tion, into which the American army was 
perpetually falling, the personal influence 
of Washington, the affection which was 
felt for him, the desire of imitating his 
example, the fear of losing his esteem, or 
even of giving him pain, deserve to be 
enumerated among the principal causes, 
which kept many men, both officers and 

^ Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. IV. p. 47. 
6 



S'2 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

soldiers, at their posts, kindled anew their 
zeal, and formed among them that mili- 
tary esprit de corps, that friendship of the 
camp, which is a feeling of great strength, 
and a fine compensating influence in so 
rough a profession. 

It is a privilege of great men, and often 
a corrupting one, to inspire afiection and 
devoted ness, without feeling them in re- 
turn. This vice of greatness Washington 
was exempt from. He loved his as- 
sociates, his officers, his armj. It was 
not merely from a sense of justice and 
duty, that he sympathized in their suffer- 
ings, and took their interests into his own 
hands with an indefatigable zeal. He 
regarded them with a truly tender feel- 
ing, marked by compassion for the suffer- 
ings he had seen them endure, and by grat- 
itude for the attachment which they had 
shown to him. And when, in 1783, at 
the close of the war, at Frances's tavern. 



OF WASHINGTON. 83 

in New York, the principal officers, at the 
moment of their final separation, passed 
in silence before him, each one pressing 
his hand as he went by, he was himself 
moved and agitated, at heart and in his 
countenance, to a degree that seemed 
hardly consistent w^ith the firm composure 
of his spirit. 

Nevertheless, he never showed to the 
army any weakness, or any spirit of unwor- 
thy compliance. He never permitted it to 
be the first object of consideration to itself, 
and never lost an opportunity to inculcate 
upon it this truth, that subordination and 
implicit submission, not only to its coun- 
try, but to the civil power, was its nat- 
ural condition, and its first duty. 

Upon this subject, he gave it, on three im- 
portant occasions, the most admirable and 
the most effective of lessons, that of exam- 
ple. In 1782, he rejected, " with great and 



84 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

painful surprise,"* (these are his expres- 
sions,) the crown and the supreme power, 
which some discontented officers were of- 
fering to him. In 1783, on the eve of the 
disbanding of the troops, having been in- 
formed that the draft of an address was 
circulating through the army, and that a 
general meeting was about to be held to 
deliberate upon the means of obtaining by 
force, that which Congress, in spite of 
justice, had refused to grant, he express- 
ed, in the orders of the day, his strong 
disapprobation of the measure, himself 
called together another meeting, attended 
in person, recalled the officers to the con- 
sideration of their duty and the public 
good, and then withdrew, before any dis- 
cussion took place, wishing to leave to 
the parties themselves the merit of retrac- 
ing their steps, which was done promptly 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. VIII. p. 300. 



OF WASHINGTON. 85 

and generally.^ Finally, in 1784 and 
1787, when the officers in their retirement 
attempted to form among themselves the 
Society of Cincinnati, in order to preserve 
some bond of union in their dispersed 
condition, and for the mutual aid of them- 
selves and their families, as soon as Wash- 
ington saw that the uneasiness and dis- 
trust of a jealous people were awakened 
by the mere name of a military society, a 
military order, notwithstanding the per- 
sonal inclination which he felt towards 
the institution, he not only caused a 
change to be made in its statutes, but 
publicly declined being its president, and 
ceased to take any part in it.f 

By a singular coincidence, about the 
same time, Gustavus the Third, king of 
Sweden, forbade the Swedish officers w^ho 



* Ibid., Vol. VIII. pp. 392-400. 
t Ibid., Vol. IX. pp. 26, 127. 



S6 CHARACTER AXD INFLUE^XE 

had served in the French army during the 
American war, to wear the order of the 
Cincinnati, *' on the ground, that the insti- 
tution had a republican tendency not suited 
to his government." * 

^' If we cannot convince the people that 
their fears are ill-founded, we should, at 
least, in a degree yield to them,"* said 
Washington, upon this subject.! He did not 
yield, even to the people, when the public 
interest would have sufiered from such a 
course; but he had too just a sense of the 
relative importance of things to display 
the same inflexibility, when merely per- 
sonal interests or private feelings, how- 
ever reasonable, were in question. 

When the object of the war was ob- 
tained, when he had taken leave of his 
companions in arms, mingled with his af- 



* Wfishingtou's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 5G, 
t Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 35. 



OF WASHINGTON. 87 

fectionate regret, and the joy which he 
felt in the prospect of repose after victory, 
another feeling may be perceived in his 
mind, faint indeed, and perhaps even un- 
known to himself, and this was, a regret 
in leaving his military life, that noble pro- 
fession to which he, had devoted his best 
years with so much distinction. It was a 
highly congenial employment to Washing- 
ton, whose genius was methodical, and 
more firm than inventive ; who was just, 
and full of good-will to all men, but grave, 
somewhat cold, born for command rather 
than struggle; in action, loving order, disci- 
pline, and subordination of ranks ; and pre- 
ferring the simple and vigorous exercise of 
power, in a good cause, to the compli- 
cated intrigues and impassioned debates 
of politics. 

" The scene is at last closed 

On the eve of Christmas, I entered these 
doors an older man by nine years than 



88 CHARACTER AJ^D INFLUENCE 

when I left them I am just be- 
ginning to experience that ease and free- 
dom from public cares, which, however 
desirable, takes some time to realize. It 
was not till lately I could get the better 
of my usual custom of ruminating, as soon 
as I waked in the morning, on the busi- 
ness of the ensuing day ; and of my sur- 
prise at finding, after revolving many 
things in my mind, that I was no longer a 
public man, nor had any thing to do with 

public transactions I hope to 

spend the remainder of my days in cultivat- 
ing the affections of good men, and in the 

practice of the domestic virtues 

The life of a husbandman, of all others, 
is the most delightful. It is honorable, it 
is amusing, and, with judicious manage- 
ment, it is profitable I have not 

only retired from all public employments, 
but I am retiring within myself, and shall 
be able to view the solitary walk, and 



OF WASHINGTON. 89 

tread the paths of private life, with a 
heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none, 1 
am determined to be pleased with all ; 
and this, my dear friend, being the order 
for my march, I will move gently down 
the stream of life, until I sleep with my 
fathers." * 

Washington, in uttering such language, 
was not merely expressing a momentary 
feeling, the enjoyment of repose, after long- 
protracted toil, and of liberty, after a se- 
vere confinement. The tranquil and active 
life of a great landed proprietor; those em- 
ployments, full of interest and free from 
anxiety ; that domestic authority, seldom 
disputed, and attended with little respon- 
sibility ; that admirable harmony between 
the intelligence of man and the prolific 
power of nature; that sober and simple 
hospitality ; the high satisfaction which 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. pp. 1, 17, 18, 21, 32a 



90 CHARACTER AT^D INFLUENCE 

springs from consideration and good-will 
obtained without effort, — these were tru- 
ly suited to his taste, and were the objects 
of constant preference to his mind. He 
would probably have chosen this very life. 
He enjoyed it ; and he enjoyed, besides, 
all that could be added to it by the pub- 
lic gratitude and his glory, which were 
delightful in spite of their importunate 
claims upon him. 

Always of a serious and practical turn 
of mind, he made improvements in the 
cultivation of his estates, embellished his 
mansion-house, occupied himself with the 
local interests of Virginia, traced the out- 
line of that great system of internal nav- 
igation from east to west, which was des- 
tined, at a future period, to put the Unit- 
ed States in possession of one-half the 
new world, established schools, put his 
papers in order, carried on an extensive 
correspondence, and took great pleasure in 



OF WASHINGTON. 91 

receiving, under his roof, and at his table, 
his attached friends. " It is mj wish," 
he wrote to one of them, a few days after 
his return to Mount Vernon, *' that the 
mutual friendship and esteem, which have 
been planted and fostered in the tumult 
of public life, may not wither and die in 
the serenity of retirement. We should 
rather amuse the evening hours of life in 
cultivating the tender plants, and bringing 
them to perfection before they are trans- 
planted to a happier clime." * 

Towards the end of the year 1784, 
M. de Lafayette came to Mount Vernon. 
Washington felt for him a truly paternal 
affection, the tenderest, perhaps, of which 
his life presents any trace. Apart from 
the services rendered by him, from the 
personal esteem he inspired, and from 
the attractiveness of his character, apart 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 5. 



92 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

even from the enthusiastic devotion which 
M. de Lafiiyette testified for him, this 
elegant and chivalrous young nobleman, 
man, who had escaped from the court of 
Versailles to dedicate his sword and his 
fortune to the yeomanry of America, was 
singularly pleasing to the grave American 
general. It was, as it were, a homage 
paid by the nobility of the old world to 
his cause and his person ; a sort of con- 
necting tie between him and that French 
society, which was so brilliant, so intel- 
lectual, and so celebrated. In his modest 
elevation of mind, he was flattered as well 
as touched by it, and his thoughts rested 
with an emotion full of complacency upon 
this young friend, whose life was like that 
of none other, and who had quitted every 
thing to serve by his side. 

" In the moment of our separation,-' he 
wrote to him, " upon the road as I trav- 
elled, and every hour since, I have felt all 



OF WASHINGTON. 93 

that love, respect, and attachment for you, 
with which length of years, close connex- 
ion, and your merits have inspired me. I 
often asked myself, as our carriages separ- 
ated, whether that was the last sight I 
should ever have of you. And though I 
wished to say No, my fears answered Yes. 
I called to mind the days of my youth, 
and found they had long since fled to re- 
turn no more ; that I was now descend- 
ing the hill I had been fifty-two years 
climbing, and that, though I was blest 
with a good constitution, I was of a short- 
lived family, and might soon expect to be 
entombed in the mansion of my fathers. 
These thoughts darkened the shades, and 
gave a gloom to the picture, and conse- 
quently to my prospect of seeing you 
again. But I will not repine ; I have had 
my day." * 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 77. 



94 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

Notwithstanding this sad presentiment, 
and his sincere taste for repose, his 
thoughts dwelt constantly upon the condi- 
tion and affairs of his country. No man 
can separate himself from the place in 
which he has once held a distinguished 
position. " Retired as I am from the 
world," he writes in 1786, " I frankly ac- 
knowledge I cannot feel myself an uncon- 
cerned spectator."* The spectacle deep- 
ly affected and disturbed him. The Con- 
federation was falling to pieces. Con- 
gress, its sole bond of union, was without 
power, not even daring to make use of 
the little that was intrusted to it. The 
moral weakness of men was added to the 
political weakness of institutions. The 
States were falling a prey to their hos- 
tilities, to their mutual distrust, to their 
narrow and selfish views. The treaties, 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 189. 



OF WASHINGTON. 95 

which had sanctioned the national inde- 
pendence, were executed only in an im- 
perfect and a precarious manner. The 
debts contracted, both in the old and 
new world, were unpaid. The taxes 
destined to liquidate them never found 
their way into the public treasury. Ag- 
riculture was languishing ; commerce was 
declining ; anarchy was extending. In 
all parts of the country itse'f, whether 
enlightened or ignorant, whether the 
blame was laid on the government, or 
the want of government, the discontent 
was general. In Europe, the reputation 
of the United States was rapidly sinking. 
It was asked if there would ever be any 
United States. England encouraged this 
doubt, looking forward to the hour when 
she might profit by it. 

The sorrow of Washington was extreme, 
and he was agitated and humbled as if he 
had been still responsible for the course of 



96 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

events. " What, gracious God ! " he wrote, 
on learning the troubles in Massachusetts, 
" is man, that there should be such incon- 
sistency and perfidiousness in his conduct ? 
It was but the other day, that we were 
shedding our blood to obtain the constitu- 
tions under which we now live ; constitu- 
tions of our own choice and making ; and 
now we are unsheathing the sword to 
overturn them. The thing is so unac- 
countable, that I hardly know how to re- 
alize it, or to persuade myself, that I am 
not under the ilhision of a dream." * 
" We have probably had too good an opin- 
ion of human nature in formins^ our con- 
federation. Experience has taught us, 
that men will not adopt and carry into 
execution measures the best calculated 
for their own good, without the interven- 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 221. 



OF WASHINGTON. 97 

tion of a tjoercive power." * '^ From the 
high ground we stood upon, to be so fallen, 
so lost, is really mortifying." f " In re- 
gretting, which I have often done with the 
keenest sorrow, the death of our much la- 
mented friend, General Greene, I have 
accompanied it of late with a query, 
whether he would not have preferred such 
an exit to the scenes which, it is more 
than probable, many of his compatriots 
may live to bemoan."! 

Nevertheless, the course of events, and 
the progress of general good sense, were 
also mingling hope with this patriotic 
sorrow, —a hope full of anxiety and 
uneasiness, the only one which the im- 
perfection of human things permits ele- 
vated minds to form, but which is sufficient 



* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 187. 
t Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 1G7. 
t Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 226. 

7 



98 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

to keep up their courage. Throughout 
the whole Confederation, the evil was felt 
and a glimpse was caught of the remedy. 
The jealousies of the States, local inter- 
ests, ancient habits, democratic prejudices, 
were all strongly opposed to the sacrifices 
which were requisite in order to form a 
government in which the central power 
should be stronger and more prominent. 
Still, the spirit of order and union ; the 
love of America as their country ; regret 
at seeing it decline in the esteem of man- 
kind ; the disgust created by the petty, in- 
terminable, and profitless disturbances of 
anarchy ; the obvious nature of its evils, 
the perception of its dangers ; all the just 
opinions and noble sentiments which filled 
the mind of Washington, were gradually 
extending themselves, gathering additional 
strength, and preparing the way for a hap- 
pier future. Four years had hardly elapsed 
since the peace, which had sanctioned 



OF WASHIIVGTON. 99 

the acquisition of independence, when a 
national Convention, brought together by 
a general spontaneous feeling, assembled 
at Philadelphia, for the purpose of reform- 
ing the federal government. Commencing 
its session the 14th day of May, 1787, it 
made choice of Washington for its presi- 
dent on the same day. From the 14th 
of May to the 17th of September, it was 
occupied in forming the Constitution, 
which has governed the United States of 
America for fifty years ; deliberating with 
closed doors, and under influences the most 
intelligent and the most pure that ever 
presided over such a work. On the 30th 
of April, 1789, t the very moment when 
the Constituent Assembly was commenc- 
ing its session at Paris, Washington, hav- 
ing been chosen by a unanimous vote, 
took an oath, as President of the Republic, 
to maintain and put in force the new- 
born Constitution, in the presence of the 



100 CHARACTER AAT) IKFLUENCE 

great functionaries and legislative bodies 
which had been created by it. 

Never did a man ascend to the highest 
dignity by a more direct path, nor in com- 
pliance with a more universal wish, nor 
with an influence wider and more wel- 
come. He hesitated much. In leaving 
the command of the army, he had openly 
announced, and had sincerely promised 
himself, that he should live in retirement, 
a stranger to public affairs. To change 
his plans, to sacrifice his tastes and his re- 
pose, for very uncertain success, perhaps 
to be charged with inconsistency and am- 
bition, this was to him an immense ef- 
fort. The assembling of Congress was 
delayed; the election of Washington to 
the presidency, though known, had not 
been officially announced to him. "For 
myself," he wrote to his friend. General 
Knox, " the delay may be compared to a 
reprieve; for, in confidence I tell you, 



OF WASHINGTON. 101 

(with the world it would obtain little 
credit,) that my movements to the chair of 
government will be accompanied by feel- 
ings not unlike those of a culprit, who is 
going to the place of his execution ; so 
unwilling am I, in the evening of a life 
nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a 
peaceful abode for an ocean of difficulties, 
without that competency of political skill, 
abilities, and inclination, which are neces- 
sary to manage the helm."* The message 
at length arrived, and he commenced his 
journey. In his Diary, he writes ; "About 
ten o'clock, I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, 
to private life, and to domestic felicity ; 
and, with a mind oppressed with more 
anxious and painful sensations than I have 
words to express, set out for New York, 
with the best disposition to render service 
to my country, in obedience to its call, 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 488. 



102 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

but with less hope of answering its ex- 
pectations." * His journey was a tri- 
umphal procession ; : on the road, and in 
the towns, the wl o'e population came out 
to meet him, with shouts of applause and 
prayers in his behalf. He entered New 
York, conducted by a committee of Con- 
gress, in an elegantly decorated barge, 
rowed by thirteen pilots, representing the 
thirteen States, in the midst of an im- 
mense crowd in the harbour and upon the 
shore. His own state of feeling remained 
the same. " The display of boats," says 
he in his Diary, " which attended and 
joined on this occasion, some with vocal 
and others with instrumental music on 
board ; the decorations of the j hips, the 
roar of cannon, and the loud acclamations 
of the people, which rent the sky as I 
passed along the wharves, filled my mind 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 461. 



OF WASHINGTON. 103 

with sensations as painful (contemplating 
the reverse of this scene, which may be 
the case, after all my labors to do good,) as 
they were pleasing." ^ 

About a century and a half before, on 
the banks of the Thames, a similar crowd 
and like outward signs of feeling had at- 
tended Cromwell to Westminster, when 
he was proclaimed Protector of the Com- 
monwealth of England. '' What throngs ! 
what acclamations ! " said his flatterers. 
Cromwell replied, " There would be still 
more, if they were going to hang me." 

A singular resemblance and also a noble 
difference between the sentiments and the 
language of a corrupted great man and a 
virtuous great man. 

Washington was, with reason, anxious 
about the task which he undertook. The 
sagacity of a sage, united to the devoted- 

* Marshall's Life of Washington, Vol. V. p. 159. 



104 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

ness of a hero, constitutes the highest 
glory of humanity. The nation, which he 
had conducted to independence, and which 
required a government at his hands, being 
hardly yet formed, was entering upon one 
of those social changes which render the 
future so uncertain, and power so perilous. 
It is a remark often made, and general- 
ly assented to, that in the English colo- 
nies, before their separation from the 
mother country, the state of society and 
feeling was essentially republican, and 
that every thing was prepared for this 
form of government. But a republican 
form of government can govern and, in 
point of fact, has governed societies essen- 
tially different ; and the same society may 
undergo great changes without ceasing to 
be a republic. All the English colonies 
showed themselves, nearly in the same de- 
gree, in favor of the republican constitu- 
tion. At the North and at the South, in 



OF WASHINGTON. 105 

Virginia and the Carolinas, as well as in 
Connecticut and Massachusetts, the public 
will was the same, so far as the form of 
government was concerned. 

Still, (and the remark has been often 
made,) considered in their social organiza- 
tion, in the condition and relative position 
of their inhabitants, these colonies were 
very different. 

In the South, especially in Virginia and 
North Carolina, the soil belonged, in gen- 
eral, to large proprietors, who were sur- 
rounded by slaves or by cultivators on a 
small scale. Entails and the right of 
primogeniture secured the perpetuity of 
families. There was an established and 
endowed church. The civil legislation of 
England, bearing strongly the impress of 
its feudal origin, had been maintained al- 
most without exception. The social state 
was aristocratic. 

In the North, especially in Massa- 



106 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

chusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, 
Rhode Island, &c., the fugitive Puritans 
had brought with them, and planted there, 
strict democracy with religious enthusiasm. 
Here, there was no slavery ; there were no 
large proprietors in the midst of an inferior 
population, no entailment of landed prop- 
erty ; there was no church, with different 
degrees of rank, and founded in the name 
of the State; no social superiority, lawfully 
established and maintained. Man was 
here left to his own efforts and to di- 
vine favor. The spirit of independence 
and equality had passed from the church 
to the state. 

Still, however, even in the northern col- 
onies, and under the sway of Puritan prin- 
ciples, other causes, not sufficiently no- 
ticed, qualified this character of the so- 
cial state, and modified its developement. 
There is a great, a very great difi'erence 
between a purely religious and a purely 



OF WASHINGTON. 107 

political democratic spirit. However ar- 
dent, however impracticable the former 
may be, it receives in its origin, and main- 
tains in its action, a powerful element of 
subordination and order, that is, reverence. 
In spite of their spiritual pride, the Puri- 
tans, every day, bent before a master and 
submitted to him their thoughts, their 
heart, their life ; and on the shores of 
America, when they had no longer to de- 
fend their liberties against human power, 
when they were governing themselves in 
the presence of God, the sincerity of their 
faith and the strictness of their manners 
counteracted the inclination of the spirit of 
democracy towards individual lawlessness 
and general disorder. Those magistrates, 
so watched, so constantly changed, had 
still a strong ground of support, which 
rendered them firm, often even severe, in 
the exercise of authority. In the bosom 
of those families, so jealous of their rights. 



108 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

SO opposed to all political display, to all 
conventional greatness, the paternal au- 
thority was strong and much respected. 
The law sanctioned rather than limited it. 
Entails and inequality in inheritance were 
forbidden; but the father had the entire 
disposition of his property, and divided it 
among his children according to his own 
will. In general, civil legislation was not 
controlled by political maxims, and pre- 
served the impress of ancient manners. 
In consequence of this, the democratic 
spirit, though predominant, was every- 
where met by checks and balances. 

Besides, a circumstance of material im- 
portance, temporary but of decisive effect, 
served to conceal its presence and retarded 
its sway. In the towns, there was no 
populace ; in the country, the population 
was settled around the principal planters, 
commonly those who had received grants 
of the soil, and were invested with the lo- 



OF WASHINGTON. 109 

cal magistracies. The social principles 
were democratic, but the position of in- 
dividuals was very little so. Instruments 
were wanting to give effect to the princi- 
ples. Influence still dwelt with rank. 
And on the other hand, the number did 
not press heavily enough to make the 
greater weight in the balance. 

But the Revolution, hastening the pro- 
gress of events, gave to American society 
a general and rapid movement in the di- 
rection of democracy. In those States 
where the aristocratic principle was still 
strong, as in Virginia, it was immediately 
assailed and subdued. Entails disappear- 
ed. The church lost not only its privi- 
leges, but its official rank in the State. 
The elective principle prevailed through- 
out the whole government. The right 
of suffrage was greatly extended. Civil 
legislation, without undergoing a radical 



110 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

change, inclined more and more towards 
equality. 

The progress of democracy was still 
more marked in events than in laws. 
In the towns, the population increased 
rapidly, and, with it, the populace also. 
In the country towards the west, be- 
yond the Alleghany mountains, by a con- 
stant and accelerated movement of emi- 
gration, new States were growing up or 
preparing to be formed, inhabited by a 
scattered population, always in contest 
with the rude powers of nature and the 
ferocious passions of savages ; half savage 
themselves ; strangers to the forms and 
proprieties of thickly settled communities ; 
given up to the selfishness of their own 
separated and solitary existence, and of 
their passions ; bold, proud, rude, and pas- 
sionate. Thus, in all parts of the coun- 
try, along the sea-board as well as in 
the interior of the continent, in the great 



OF WASHINGTON. Ill 

centres of population and in the forests 
hardly yet explored, in the midst of com- 
mercial activity and of rural life, numbers, 
the simple individual, personal indepen- 
dence, primitive equality, all these demo- 
cratic elements, were increasing, extend- 
ing their influence, and taking, in the State 
and its institutions, the place which had 
been prepared for them, but which they 
had not previously held. 

And, in the course of ideas, the same 
movement, even more rapid, hurried along 
the minds of men and the progress of opin- 
ion, far in advance of events. In the midst 
of the most civilized and wisest States, the 
most radical theories obtained not only 
favor but strength. " The property of the 
United States has been protected from 
the confiscation of Britain by the joint ex- 
ertions of all, and therefore ought to be 
the common property of all ; and he that 
attempts opposition to this creed is an en- 



112 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

emy to equity and justice, and ought to be 

swept from the face of the earth 

They are determined to annihilate all 
debts, public and private, and have agra- 
rian laws, which are easily effected by the 
means of unfunded paper money, which 
shall be a tender in all cases whatever." * 
These disorganizing fancies were received 
in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New 
Hampshire, by a considerable portion of 
the people ; twelve or fifteen thousand 
men took up arms in order to reduce them 
to practice. And the evil appeared so se- 
rious, that Madison, the most intimate 
friend of Jefferson, a man whom the dem- 
ocratic party subsequently ranked among 
its leaders, regarded American society as 
almost lost, and hardly ventured to enter- 
tain any hope.f 



* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 207. 
t TbiLl.,Vol. IX. p.208. 



OF WASHINGTON. 113 

Two p6wers act in concurrence to de- 
velope and maintain the life of a people ; 
its civil constitution and its political or- 
ganization, the general influences of soci- 
ety and the authorities of the State ; the 
latter were wanting to the infant Ameri- 
can commonwealth, still more than the 
former. In this society, so disturbed, 
so slightly connected, the old government 
had disappeared, and the new had not yet 
been formed. I have spoken of the insig- 
nificance of Congress, the only bond of 
union between the States, the only central 
powder ; a power without rights and with- 
out strength ; signing treaties, nominating 
am.bassadors, proclaiming that the public 
good required certain laws, certain taxes, 
and a certain army ; but not having it- 
self the power of making laws, or judges 
or officers to administer them ; without 
taxes, with which to pay its ambassadors, 
officers, and judges, or troops to enforce 



114 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

the payment of taxes and cause its laws, 
judges, and officers to be respected. The 
political state was still more weak and 
more wavering than the social state. 

The Constitution was formed to rem- 
edy this evil, to give to the Union a gov- 
ernment. It accomplished two great 
results. The central government be- 
came a real one, and was placed in its 
proper position. The Constitution freed 
it from the control of the States, gave 
it a direct action upon the citizens with- 
out the intervention of the local authori- 
ties, and supplied it with the instru- 
ments necessary to give effect to its 
will ; with taxes, judges, officers, and 
soldiers. In its own interior organization, 
the central government was well con- 
ceived and well balanced ; the duties and 
relations of the several powers were reg- 
ulated with great good sense, and a clear 
understanding of the conditions upon which 



OF WASHINGTON. 115 

order and- political vitality were to be had; 
at least for a republican form and the so- 
ciety for which it was intended. 

In comparing the Constitution of the 
United States with the anarchy from 
which it sprang, we cannot too much ad- 
mire the wisdom of its framers and of the 
generation which selected and sustained 
them. But the Constitution, though 
adopted and promulgated, was as yet a 
mere name. It supplied remedies against 
the evil, but the evil was still there. The 
great powers, which it had brought into 
existence, were confronted with the events 
which had preceded it and rendered it so 
necessary, and with the parties which 
were formed by these events, and were 
striving to mould society and the Consti- 
tution itself according to their own views. 

At the first glance, the names of these 
parties excite surprise. Federal and demo- 
cratic ; between these two qualities, these 



116 CHARACTER .^JND LNTLUENCE 

two tendencies, there is no real and es- 
sential diflerence. In Holland in the sev- 
enteenth century, in Switzerland even in 
our time, it was the democratic party which 
aimed at strengthening the federal union, 
the central government ; it was the aristo- 
cratic party which placed itself at the head 
of the local governments, and defended 
their sovereignty. The Dutch people 
supported William of Nassau and the 
Stadtholdership against John de Witt and 
the leading citizens of the towns. The 
patricians of Schweitz and Uri are the 
most obstinate enemies of the federal diet 
and of its power. 

In the course of their struggle, the 
American parties often received differ- 
ent designations. The democratic party 
arrogated to itself the title of repuhVi- 
can, and bestowed on the other that of 
monarchists and monocrais. The federal- 
ists called their opponents a nti- unionists. 



OF WASHINGTON. 117 

They mutually accused each other of tend- 
ing, the one to monarchy, and the other to 
separation ; of wishing to destroy, the one 
the republic, and the other the union. 

This was either a bigoted prejudice or 
a party trick. Both parties were sincere- 
ly friendly to a republican form of govern- 
ment and the union of the States. The 
names, which they gave one another for 
the sake of mutual disparagement, were 
still more false than their original denomi- 
nations were imperfect and improperly op- 
posed to each other. 

Practically, and so far as the imme- 
diate affairs of the country were con- 
cerned, they differed less, than they either 
said or thought, in their mutual hatred. 
But, in reality, there was a permanent and 
essential difference between them in their 
principles and their tendencies. The fed- 
eral party was, at the same time, aristo- 
cratic, favorable to the preponderance of the 



118 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

higher classes, as well as to the power of 
the central government. The democratic 
party was, also, the local party ; desiring at 
once the rule of the majority, and the almost 
entire independence of the State govern- 
ments. Thus there were points of differ- 
ence between them respecting both social 
order and political order ; the constitution 
of society itself, as well as of its govern- 
ment. Thus those paramount and eter- 
nal , questions, which have agitated and 
will continue to agitate the world, and 
which are linked to the far higher problem 
of man's nature and destiny, were all in- 
volved in the American parties, and were 
all concealed under their names. 

It was in the midst of this society, so 
agitated and disturbed, that Washington, 
without ambition, without any false show, 
from a sense of duty rather than inclina- 
tion, and rather trusting in truth than con- 
fident of success, undertook actually to 



OF WASHINGTON. 119 

found the government which a new-born 
constitution had just decreed. He rose to 
his high office, invested with an immense 
influence, which was acknowledged and 
received even by his enemies. But he 
himself has made the profound remark, 
that '' influence is not government." * 

In the struggle of the parties, all that had 
reference to the mere organization of civil 
society occupied his attention very little. 
This involves abstruse and recondite ques- 
tions, which are clearly revealed only 
to the meditations of the philosopher, af- 
ter he has surveyed human societies in all 
periods and under all their forms. Wash- 
ington was little accustomed to contem- 
plation or acquainted with science. In 
1787, before going to Philadelphia, he had 
undertaken, for the purpose of getting clear 
views, to study the constitution of the 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 204. 



:yf, 



120 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

principal confederations, ancient and mod- 
ern ; and the abstract of this labor, found 
among his papers, shows, that he had made 
a collection of facts in support of the plain 
dictates of his good sense, rather than pen- 
etrated into the essential nature of these 
complicated associations. 

Moreover, Washington's natural inclina- 
tion was rather to a democratic social state, 
than to any other. Of a mind just rather 
than expansive, of a temper w^ise and calm ; 
full of dignity, but free from all selfish and 
arrogant pretensions ; coveting rather re- 
spect than power ; the impartiality of 
democratic principles, and the simplicity 
of democratic manners, far from offending 
or annoying him, suited his tastes and sat- 
isfied his judgment. He did not trouble 
himself with inquiring, like the partisans of 
the aristocratic system, whether more elab- 
orate combinations, a division into ranks, 
privileges, and artificial barriers, were ne- 



OF WASHINGTON. 121 

cessarj to the preservation of society. 
He lived tranquilly in the midst of an 
equal and sovereign people, finding its au- 
thority to be lawful and submitting to it 
without effort. 

But when the question was one of po- 
litical and not social order, when the dis- 
cussion turned upon the organization of 
the government, he was strongly federal, 
opposed to local and popular pretensions, 
and the declared advocate of the unity 
and force of the central power. 

He placed himself under this standard, 
and did so in order to insure its triumph. 
But still his elevation was not the victory 
of a party, and awakened in no one either 
exultation or regret. In the eyes, not only 
of the public, but of his enemies, he was 
not included in any party and was above 
them all ; " the only man in the United 
States," said Jefferson, " who possessed 
the confidence of all ; there was 



122 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

110 Other one, who was considered as any 
thing more than a party leader." * / 

It was his constant effort to maintain 
this honorable privilege. " It is really my 
wish to have my mind and my actions, 
which are the result of reflection, as free 

and independent as the air. f If it 

should be my inevitable fate to administer 
the government, I will go to the chair 
under no preengagement of any kind or 

nature whatsoever. J Should any 

thing tending to give me anxiety present 
itself in this or any other publication, 
I shall never undertake the painful task 
of recrimination, nor do I know that I 
should even enter upon my justification. ^ 
All else is but food for decla- 
mation. II Men's minds are as 

* Jefferson's Memoirs, Vol. IV. p. 481. 

f Washington's Writings, Vol. IX. p. 84. 

t Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 476. § Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 108. 

II Ibid., Vol. IX. p. 148. 



OF WASHINGTON. 1^3 

variant as their faces; and, where the mo- 
tives of their actions are pure, the op- 
eration of the former is no more to be im- 
puted to them as a crime, than the appear- 
ance of the latter.* Differences 

in political opinions are as unavoidable, as, 
to a certain point, they may perhaps be 
necessary." f A stranger also to all per- 
sonal disputes, to the passions and prej- 
udices of his friends as well as his ene- 
mies, the purpose of his whole policy was 
to maintain this position ; and to this pol- 
icy he gave its true name; he called it 
" the just medium." t 

It is much to have the wush to preserve 
a just medium ; but the wish, though ac- 
companied with firmness and ability, is 
not always enough to secure it. Wash- 
ington succeeded in this as much by the 
natural turn of his mind and character, 

* Washington's Writings, Vo]. IX. p. 475. 

t Ibid., Vol. X. p. 283. t Ibid., Vol. X. p. 236. 



124 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

as by making it his peculiar aim ; he was, 
indeed, really of no party, and his coun- 
try, in esteeming him so, did no more than 
pay homage to truth. 

A man of experience and a man of ac- 
tion, he had an admirable wisdom, and 
made no pretension to systematic theo- 
ries. He took no side beforehand ; he 
made no show of the principles that were 
to govern him. Thus, there was nothing 
like a logical harshness in his conduct, no 
committal of self-love, no struggle of rival 
talent. When he obtained the victory, 
his success was not to his adversaries ei- 
ther a stake lost or a sweeping sentence 
of condemnation. It was not on the ground 
of the superiority of his own mind, that he 
triumphed ; but on the ground of the nature 
of things, and of the inevitable necessity 
that accompanied them. Still his success 
was not an event without a moral charac- 
ter, the simple result of skill, strength, or 



OF WASHINGTON. 125 

fortune. Uninfluenced bj any theory, he 
had faith in truth, and adopted it as the 
guide of his conduct. He did not pursue 
the victory of one opinion against the par- 
tisans of another ; neither did he act from 
interest in the event alone, or merely for 
success. He did nothing which he did not 
think to be reasonable and just ; so that 
his conduct, which had no systematic char- 
acter, that might be humbling to his ad- 
versaries, had still a moral character, 
which commanded respect. 

Men had, moreover, the most thorough 
conviction of his disinterestedness ; that 
great light, to which men so willingly 
trust their fate ; that vast power, which 
draws after it their hearts, while, at the 
same time, it gives them confidence that 
their interests will not be surrendered, 
either as a sacrifice or as instruments to 
selfishness and ambition. 

His first act, the formation of his cabi- 



126 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

net, was the most striking proof of his 
impartiality. Four persons were selected 
by him ; Hamilton and Knox, of the fed- 
eral party ; Jefferson and Randolph, of 
the democratic. Knox was a soldier, of 
integrity, of moderate abilities, and easily 
influenced ; Randolph, a restless spirit, of 
doubtful probity and little good faith ; 
Jeflerson and Hamilton were both sin- 
cere, honest, enthusiastic, and able, — the 
real heads of the two parties. 

Hamilton deserves to be ranked among 
those men, who have best understood the 
vital principles and essential conditions of 
government ; not merely of a nominal gov- 
ernment, but of a government worthy of 
its mission and of its name. In the Con- 
stitution of the United States, there is not 
an element of order, strength, and dura- 
bility, to the introduction and adoption of 
which he did not powerfully contribute. 
Perhaps he believed the monarchical form 



OF WASHTINGTON. 127 

preferable to the republican. Perhaps he 
sometimes had doubts of the success of 
the experiment attempted in his own 
country. Perhaps, also, carried away by 
his vivid imagination and the logical ve- 
hemence of his mind, he w^as sometimes 
exclusive in his views and went too far 
in his inferences. But, of a character as 
lofty as his mind, he faithfully served the 
republic, and labored to found and not to 
weaken it. His superiority consisted in 
knowing, that, naturally and by a law 
inherent in the nature of things, power 
is above, at the head of society ; that 
government should be constituted ac- 
cording to this law ; and that every con- 
trary system or effort brings, sooner or 
later, trouble and weakness into the soci- 
ety itself. His error consisted in adhering 
too closely, and wdth a somewhat arrogant 
obstinacy, to the precedents of the Eng- 
lish constitution, in attributing sometimes 



123 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

in these precedents the same authority 
to good and to evil, to principles and to 
the abuse of them, and in not attaching 
due importance to, and reposing sufficient 
confidence in, the variety of political forms 
and the flexibility of human society. 
There are occasions, in which political 
genius consists, in not fearing w^hat is 
new, while what is eternal is respected. 
The democratic party, not the turbulent 
and coarse democracy of antiquity or of the 
middle ages, but the great modern democ- 
racy, never had a more faithful or more 
distinguished representative than Jefferson. 
A warm friend of humanity, liberty, and 
science ; trusting in their goodness as well 
as their rights ; deeply touched by the in- 
justice with which the mass of mankind 
have been treated, and the sufferings they 
endure, and incessantly engaged, with an 
admirable disinterestedness, in remedying 
them or preventing their recurrence ; ac- 



OF WASHINGTON. 129 

cepting power as a dangerous necessity, 
almost as one evil opposed to another, and 
exerting himself not merely to restrain, but 
to lower it; distrusting all display, all 
personal splendor, as a tendency to usur- 
pation ; of a temper open, kind, indul- 
gent, though ready to take up prejudices 
against, and feel irritated with, the ene- 
mies of his party ; of a mind bold, active, 
ingenious, inquiring, with more penetra- 
tion than forecast, but with too much 
good sense to push things to the extreme, 
and capable of employing, against a press- 
ing danger or evil, a prudence and firm- 
ness, which w^ould perhaps have pre- 
vented it, had they been adopted earlier 
or more generally. 

It was not an easy task to unite these 
two men, and make them act in concert 
in the same cabinet. The critical state of 
affairs at the first adoption of the Consti- 
tution, and the impartial preponderance of 
9 



130 CHARACTER AND IJNTLUENCE ' 

Washington alone could accomplish it. 
He applied himself to it with consummate 
perseverance and wisdom. At heart, he 
felt a decided preference for Hamilton 
and his views. ''By some," said he, "he 
is considered an ambitious man, and 
therefore a dangerous one. That he is 
ambitious, I shall readily grant ; but it is of 
that laudable kind, which prompts a man 
to excel in w^hatever he takes in hand. 
He is enterprising, quick in his perceptions, 
and his judgment intuitively great."* 
But it was only in 1798, in the free- 
dom of his retirement, that Washington 
spoke so explicitly. While in office, and 
between his two secretaries, he main- 
tained towards them a strict reserve, and 
testified the same confidence in them both. 
He believed both of them to be sincere 
and able ; both of them necessary to the 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XI. p. 312. 



OF WASHINGTON. 131 

country and to himself. Jefferson was to 
him, not only a connecting tie, a means 
of inflLience, with the popular party, which 
was not slow in becoming the opposition ; 
but he made use of him in the internal 
administration of his government, as a 
counterpoise to the tendencies, and espe- 
cially to the language, sometimes extrav- 
agant and inconsiderate, of Hamilton and 
his friends. He had interviews and con- 
sultations with each of them separately, 
upon the subjects which they were to dis- 
cuss together, in order to remove or to 
lessen beforehand their differences of opin- 
ion. He knew how to turn the merit 
and the popularity of each with his own 
party, to the general good of the govern- 
ment, even to their own mutual advan- 
tage. He skilfully availed himself of ev- 
ery opportunity to employ them in a com- 
mon responsibility. And when a disa- 
greement too wide, and passions too im- 



132 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

petuous, seemed to threaten an immediate 
rupture, he interposed, used exhortation 
and intreaty, and, by his personal influ- 
ence, by a frank and touching appeal to 
the patriotism and right-mindedness of 
the two rivals, he at least postponed the 
breaking forth of the evil which he could 
not eradicate. 

He dealt w^ith things with the same 
prudence and tact as with men ; careful 
of his personal position, starting no pre- 
mature or superfluous question; free from 
the restless desire to regulate every thing 
and control everything; leaving the grand 
bodies of the State, the local governments, 
and the officers of his administration, to 
act in their appropriate spheres, and never, 
except in a case of clear and practical 
necessity, pledging his own opinion or 
responsibility. And this policy, so impar- 
tial, so cautious, so careful to embarrass 
neither affairs nor itself, was by no means 



OF WASHINGTON. 133 

the policy of an inactive, uncertain, ill- 
compounded administration, seeking and 
receiving its opinions and direction from 
all quarters. On the contrary, there never 
was a government more determined, more 
active, more decided in its views, and 
more effective in its decisions. 

It had been formed against anarchy and 
to strengthen the federal union, the cen- 
tral power. It was entirely faithful to its 
office. At its very commencement, in 
the first session of the first Congress, 
numerous great questions arose ; it was 
necessary to put the Constitution in vig- 
orous action. The relations of the two 
branches of the Legislature with the Pres- 
ident ; the mode of communication be- 
tween the President and the Senate in 
regard to treaties and the nomination to 
high offices ; the organization of the judi- 
ciary ; the creation of ministerial depart- 
ments ; all these points were discussed 



134 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

and regulated. A work of vast labor, in 
which the Constitution was, to some ex- 
tent, given over a second time to the 
strife of parties. Without ostentation, 
without intrigue, without any attempt at 
encroachment, but provident and firm in the 
cause of the power which was intrusted 
to him, Washington, by his personal in- 
fluence, by an adherence openly given to 
sound principles, had a powerful influence 
in causing the work to be carried on in 
the same spirit which presided over its 
beginning, and to result in the dignified 
and firm organization of the government. 
His practice corresponded with his prin- 
ciples. Once fairly engaged with public 
business and parties, this man who, in the 
formation of his cabinet, showed himself 
so tolerant, enjoined and observed, in his 
administration, a strict unity of views and 
conduct. " I shall not, whilst I have the 
honor to administer the government, bring 



OF WASHI]NGTON. 135 

a man into any office of consequence 
knowingly, whose political tenets are ad- 
verse to the measures which the general 
government are pursuing ; for this, in my 
opinion, would be a sort of political sui- 
cide."^ ''In a government as free as 
ours," he wrote to Gouverneur Morris, at 
tliat time residing in London, " where 
the people are at liberty, and will ex- 
press their sentiments, (oftentimes impru- 
dently, and, for want of information, 
sometimes unjustly,) allowances must be 
made for occasional effervescences ; but, 
after the declaration which I have made of 
my political creed, you can run no hazard 
in asserting, that the executive branch of 
this government never has suffered, nor 
will suffer, while I preside, any improper 
conduct of its officers to escape with im- 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XL p. 74. 



136 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

punity, nor give its sanction to any dis- 
orderly proceedings of its citizens."* 

In matters, also, of mere form, and for- 
eign to the usual habits of his life, he was 
enlightened and directed by a wise tact, 
a sure instinct as to what is suitable 
and proper, a regard to which is itself 
one of the conditions of power. The 
ceremonials to be observed towards the 
President became, after his election, a 
grave party question. Many federalists, 
passionately attached to the traditions 
and splendor of monarchy, exulted when 
at a ball they had succeeded in causing a 
sofa to be placed on an elevation two 
steps above the floor of the hall, upon 
which only Washington and his wife 
could be seated. t Many of the dem- 
ocrats saw in these displays, and in the 



* Washington's Writings, Vol. XL p. 103. 
\ Jefferson's Memoir s.^ Vol. IV. p. 487. 



OF WASHINGTON. 137 

public leVees of the President, the pre- 
meditated return of tyranny, and were 
indignant, that, receiving at a fixed hour, 
in his house, all those who presented 
themselves, he made them only a stiff 
and slight bow.* Washington smiled at 
both the delight and the indignation, and 
persisted in the regulations, surely very 
modest, which he had adopted. " Were 
I to give indulgence to my inclinations, 
every moment that I could withdraw from 
the fatigue of my station should be spent 
in retirement. That it is not, proceeds 
from the sense I entertain of the propri- 
ety of giving to every one as free access 
as consists with that respect which is due 
to the chair of government ; and that re- 
spect, I conceive, is neither to be acquired 
nor preserved but by observing a just me- 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 99. 



138 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

dium between much state and too great 
familiarity." * 

More serious embarrassments soon put 
his firmness to a more severe test. After 
the establishment of the Constitution, the 
finances formed a question of vast impor- 
tance to the republic, perhaps the princi- 
pal one. Thej were in a state of ex- 
treme confusion ; there w^ere debts of the 
Union, contracted at home and abroad ; 
debts of individual States, contracted in 
their own names, but in behalf of the 
common cause ; warrants for requisitions ; 
contracts for supplies ; arrears of inter- 
est ; also other claims, different in their 
character and origin, imperfectly known 
and not liquidated. And at the end of 
this chaos, there were no settled reve- 
nues, sufficient to meet the expenses 
which it imposed. 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 100. 



OF WASHINGTON. 139 

Many persons, and, it must be acknowl- 
edged, the democratic party in general, 
were unwilling that light should be thrown 
into this chaos by assuming all these 
obligations, or even by funding them. 
They would have imposed upon each 
State its debts, however unequal the bur- 
den might have been. They w^ould have 
made distinctions between the creditors ; 
classifications founded upon the origin of 
their claims and the real amount of what 
they had paid for them. In short, all those 
measures were proposed which, under an 
appearance of scrupulous investigation and 
strict justice, were in reality nothing but 
evasions to escape from or reduce the en- 
gagements of the state. 

As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamil- 
ton proposed the opposite system ; — the 
funding and the entire payment, at the 
expense of the Union, of all the debts ac- 
tually contracted for the common benefit, 



140 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

whether with foreigners or Americans, 
and whoever were the contractors or the 
present holders, and whatever was the or- 
igin of the claims; — the laying of taxes 
sufficient to secure the redemption of the 
public debt ; — the formation of a national 
bank, capable of aiding the government 
in its financial operations, and of sustain- 
ing its credit. 

This system was the only moral and 
manly one; the only one in conformity with 
honesty and truth. It strengthened the 
Union, by uniting the States financially, as 
they were united politically. It established 
American credit, by this striking example 
of fidelity to public engagements, and by 
the guaranties which it afforded for their 
fulfilment. It fortified the central gov- 
ernment by rallying around it the capital- 
ists, and by giving it powerful means of 
influence over them and through them. 

At the first movement, the opponents of 



OF WASHINGTON. 141 

Hamilton did not dare to make any open 
objection ; but they exerted themselves to 
lessen the authority of the principle, by 
contesting the equal fairness of the 
debts, by discussing the honesty of the 
creditors, and by exclaiming against the 
taxes. Partisans of local independence, 
they rejected, instead of viewing with 
satisfaction, the political consequences of 
a financial union, and demanded, in virtue 
of their general principles, that the States 
should be left, as to the past as well as for 
the future, to the various chances of their 
situation and their destiny. 

American credit seemed to them to be 
bought at too dear a price. They would 
obtain it, as necessity might require, by 
means less burdensome and more simple. 
They found fault with the theories of 
Hamilton respecting credit, the public debt 
and its redemption, and banks, as difficult 
to be understood and fallacious. 



142 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

But the ultimate effect of the system 
especially excited their wrath. The aris- 
tocracy of wealth is a perilous ally to 
power ; for it is that wiiich inspires the 
least esteem and the most envy. When 
the question was on the payment of the 
public debt, the federal party had on their 
side the principles of morality and honor. 
When the public debt, and the specula- 
tions founded upon it, were becoming a 
means of sudden wealth, and perhaps of 
unlawful influence, the severity of morals 
passed over to the democratic party, and 
integrity lent its support to envy. 

Hamilton sustained the contest with his 
usual energy, as pure in his motives as he 
was firm in his convictions ; the head of 
a party still more than a financier ; and, 
in the administration of the finances, al- 
ways chiefly occupied with his political ob- 
ject, the foundation of the state, and the 
strength of its government. 



OF WASHINGTON. 143 

The perplexity of Washington was 
great. A stranger to financial studies, he 
had not, upon the intrinsic merit of the 
proposed questions, a personal conviction 
derived from knowledge. He felt their jus- 
tice and their political utility. He had con- 
fidence in Hamilton, in his judgment and 
his virtue. Still, as the debate was pro- 
longed and objections were multiplied, 
some of them disturbed his mind and oth- 
ers troubled his conscience ; and he asked 
himself, with some embarrassment, wheth- 
er all the reasons w^ere indeed on the side 
of the government. 

I know not which is the more worthy 
of admiration, the impartiality which in- 
spired these doubts, or the firmness with 
which, in the final result and after every 
thing had been well considered, he always 
sustained Hamilton and his measures. 
This was a step of great political saga- 
city. Though it might have been true, 



144 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

that some fallacies were mingled with the 
financial measures of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, and some abuses with their ex- 
ecution, a far higher truth predominated 
in them ; by laying the foundation of the 
public faith, and by closely connecting the 
administration of the finances with the 
policy of the State, he gave to the new 
government, from the first moment, the 
consistence of an old and well-established 
authority. 

The success surpassed the proudest ex- 
pectations. Confidence appeared in men's 
minds, activity in business, and order 
in the administration. Agriculture and 
commerce flourished ; credit rose rap- 
idly. Society prospered with a sense 
of security, feeling itself free and well- 
governed. The country and the govern- 
ment grew strong together, in that ad- 
mirable harmony which is the healthy 
condition of states. 



OF WASHINGTON. 145 

Washington beheld with his own eyes, 
upon every point of the American terri- 
tory, this spectacle so glorious and so de- 
lightful to him. In three public journeys, 
he slowly travelled over the whole Union, 
everywhere received with grateful and 
affectionate admiration, the only recom- 
pense worthy to affect the heart of a pub- 
lic man. On his return, he thus wrote ; 
" I am much pleased, that I have taken this 
journey. ..... The country appears to 

be in a very improving state ; and industry 
and frugality are becoming much more 
fashionable than they have hitherto been. 
Tranquillity reigns among the people, with 
that disposition towards the general gov- 
ernment, which is likely to preserve it. . . 
. . . The farmer finds a ready market for 
his produce, and the merchant calculates 
ivith more certainty on his payments. . . 
. . . Every day's experience of the gov- 
ernment of the United States seems to 
10 



I 



146 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

confirm its establishment, and to render it 
more popular. A ready acquiescence in 
the laws made under it shows, in a strong 
light, the confidence, which the people 
have in their representatives and in the 
upright views of those who administer the 
government." * 

And almost at the same time, as if 
Providence had provided that the same 
testimony should go down to posterity 
from all parties, Jefferson wrote; "New 
elections have taken place for the most 
part, and very few changes made. This 
is one of many proofs, that the proceed- 
ings of the new government have given 

general satisfaction Our affairs 

are proceeding in a train of unparalleled 
prosperity. This arises from the real im- 
provements of our government ; from the 
unbounded confidence reposed in it by the 



* Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 170. 



OF WASHINGTON. 147 

people, their zeal to support it, and their 
conviction, that a solid union is the best 
rock of their safety." * 

Thus, when the close of Washington's 
presidency approached, when the neces- 
sity of again selecting a chief magistrate 
for the nation was near at hand, a gen- 
eral movement was directed towards 
him, to entreat him to accept, a second 
time, the burden of office. A movement 
with great diversity, in spite of its apparent 
unanimity ; the federal party wished to 
retain possession of the power ; the dem- 
ocratic opposition felt, that the time had 
not come for them to aspire to it, and that 
the country could not dispense with the pol- 
icy, nor with the man, they nevertheless had 
a distinct purpose of attacking. The pub- 
lic were fearful of seeing an interruption of 
that order and prosperity, so highly valued 

* Jefferson's Memoirs, Vol. III. pp. 93, 112. 



148 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

and so precarious. But, whether open or 
concealed, patriotic or selfish, sincere or 
hypocritical, the sentiments and opinions 
of all concurred to the same end. 

Washington alone hesitated. His calm 
and penetrating mind found in his own 
disinterestedness a freedom, which pre- 
served him from all illusion, both as to 
affairs and as to himself. The brilliant 
aspect, the really prosperous condition, 
of public affairs, did not conceal from his 
eyes the imminent perils of his situa- 
tion. From abroad, the intelligence of 
the French revolution was already start- 
ling America. An unavoidable war, com- 
menced with ill success, against the In- 
dians, was requiring considerable efforts. 
In the cabinet, the disagreement between 
Hamilton and Jefferson grew very vio- 
lent ; the most urgent intreaties of the 
President failed to control it ; it was al- 
most officially displayed in two newspa- 



OF WASHINGTON. 149 

pers, the 'JVational Gazette and the United 
States Gazette^ fierce enemies under the 
name of rivals ; the known editor of the 
former was a clerk in Jefferson's depart- 
ment.* Thus encouraged, the opposition 
press resorted to the most bitter violence, 
and Washington suffered great uneasiness 
on account of it. He wrote to Mr. Ran- 
dolph, the Attorney-General ; " If govern- 
ment, and the officers of it, are to be the 
constant theme for newspaper abuse, and 
this too without condescending to inves- 
tigate the motives or the facts, it will be 
impossible, I conceive, for any man living 
to manage the helm or keep the machine 
together." f 

In some parts of the country, especially 
in Western Pennsylvania, one of the taxes 
imposed for making provision for the public 



* His name was Freneau, 

f Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 287. 



150 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

debt had awakened the spirit of sedition ; 
numerous meetings of the people had de- 
clared that thej would not paj it ; and 
Washington was compelled to declare 
in his turn, by an official proclamation, 
that he would enforce the execution of 
the laws. In Congress itself, the ad- 
ministration no longer received so con- 
es 

stant and powerful a support ; Hamilton 
was, day after day, the object of the 
most animated attacks ; the opposition 
were unsuccessful in the motions they 
made against him, but his own plans w^ere 
not always adopted. Finally, towards 
Washington himself, the language of the 
House of Representatives, always respect- 
ful and affectionate, was no longer so full 
or so tender ; on the twenty-second day 
of February, 1793, the anniversary of his 
birth, a motion to adjourn the session 
for half an hour in order to go and pay 
their respects to him, after being warmly 



OF WASHINGTON, 151 

opposed, 'passed by only a majority of 
twenty-three votes. 

None of these facts, none of these 
symptoms, escaped the vigilant sagacity of 
Washington, His natural taste for private 
life and the repose of Mount Vernon re- 
turned with double force. His past success, 
far from inspiring confidence, made him 
more fearful for the future. Modestly, but 
passionately attached to the consideration 
in which he was held, and to his glory, he 
was unwilling they should suffer the least 
abatement. The earnest wish expressed 
by all would not have been sufficient to 
determine him ; his personal convictions, 
the public good, the obvious urgency of 
affairs, the desire or rather the duty of 
carrying on still further his work yet incom- 
plete, were alone able to overbalance in his 
mind the dictates of prudence and incli- 
nation. He weighed and discussed within 
himself these different motives, with a 



152 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

more anxious solicitude than seemed to be 
consistent with his nature, and ended by 
saying, in the pious weariness of his 
spirit, *' As the all-wise Disposer of events 
has hitherto watched over my steps, I trust, 
that, in the important one I may soon be 
called upon to take, he will mark the 
course so plainly, as that I cannot mistake 
the way." * 

Unanimously reelected, he resumed his 
duties with the same disinterestedness, 
the same courage, and, in spite of his suc- 
cess, with less confidence, perhaps, than 
the first time. He had a true presenti- 
ment of the trials which awaited him. 

There are some events which Provi- 
dence does not permit those who live at 
the time of their occurrence to under- 
stand ; so vast, so complicated, that they 
far surpass the comprehension of man, 

* Washington'9 Writings, Vol. X. p. 286. 



OF WASHINGTON. 153 

and, even when they are exploding, still 
remain for a long time darkly hidden in 
the depths, from which proceed those 
shocks, that ultimately decide the des- 
tinies of the world. 

Such was the French revolution. Who 
has measured it ? whose judgment and 
forecast have not been a thousand times 
deceived by it, whether friends or foes, 
admirers or detractors ? When the spirit 
of society and the spirit of man are shaken 
and convulsed to such a degree, results 
are produced which no imagination had 
conceived, no forethought could grasp. 

That which experience has taught us, 
Washington caught sight of from the first 
day. At the time when the French Rev- 
olution had hardly begun, he was already 
suspending his judgment, and taking his 
position aloof from all parties and all spec- 
tators; free from the presumption of their 
predictions, from the blindness of their 



154 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

hostility or their hope. '' The whole 
business is so extraordinary in its com- 
mencement, so wonderful in its progress, 
and may be so stupendous in its conse- 
quences, that I am almost lost in the 

contemplation Nobody is more 

anxious for the happy issue of that busi- 
ness, than I am ; as no one can wish more 
sincerely for the prosperity of the French 
nation, than I do." * *' If it ends as our 
last accounts, to the first of August, [1789,] 
predict, that nation will be the most pow- 
erful and happy in Europe ; but I fear, 
though it has gone triumphantly through 
the first paroxysm, it is not the last it has 
to encounter before matters are finally 

settled The mortification of the 

king, the intrigues of the queen, and the 
discontent of the princes and noblesse, 
will foment divisions, if possible, in the 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. X. p. 89. 



OF WASHINGTOJN. 155 

National Assembly ; the licen- 
tiousness of the people on one hand, and 
sanguinary punishments on the other, will 
alarm the best disposed friends to the 

measure To forbear running from 

one extreme to another is no easy matter; 
and, should this be the case, rocks and 
shelves, not visible at present, may wreck 
the vessel, and give a higher-toned despo- 
tism than the one which existed before."* 
" It is a boundless ocean, whence no land 
is to be seen." t 

From that time, he maintained towards 
the nations and events of Europe an ex- 
treme reserve ; faithful to the principles 
which had founded the independence and 
the liberties of America, animated by a 
grateful good-will towards France, and 

* Ibid., Vol. X. p. 40. 
t Ibid., Vol. X. p. 344. 



156 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

seizing with earnestness upon every oc- 
casion to manifest it, but silent and self- 
restrained, as if under the presentiment of 
some grave responsibility of which he 
should be obliged to sustain the weight, 
and not wishing to pledge beforehand ei- 
ther his personal opinion or the policy of 
his country. 

When the trvino; moment arrived, when 
the declaration of war between France and 
England caused the great revolutionary 
struggle to break out in Europe, the reso- 
lution of Washington was decided and 
prompt. He immediately made proclama- 
tion of the neutrality of the United States. 
" My politics are plain and simple ; . . . 
, . to maintain friendly terms with, but 
be independent of, all the nations of the 
earth ; to share in the broils of none ; 
to fulfil our own engagements ; to sup- 
ply the wants and be carriers for them 



OF WASHINGTON. 157 

all ; being thoroughly convinced, that it 
is our policy and interest to do so." * 
'^ I want an American character, that 
the powers of Europe may be convinced, 
we act for ourselves, and not for oth- 
ers." t " Regarding the overthrow of 
Europe at large as a matter not entirely 
chimerical, it will be our prudence to cul- 
tivate a spirit of self-dependence, and to 
endeavour, by unanimity, vigilance, and 
exertion, under the blessing of Providence, 
to hold the scales of our destiny in our 
own hands. Standing, as it were, in the 
midst of falling empires, it should be our 
aim to assume a station and attitude, 
which will preserve us from being over- 
whelmed in their ruins." J " Nothing 
short of self-respect, and that justice 



* Washington's Writings, Vol. XI. pp. 382, 102. 
t Ibid., Vol. XI. p. 83. 
\ Ibid., Vol. XI. p. 350. 



158 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

which is essential to a national character, 
ought to involve us in war ; for sure I am, 
if this country is preserved in tranquillity 
twenty years longer, it may bid defiance, 
in a just cause, to any power whatever ; 
such, in that time, will be its population, 
wealth, and resources."* 

At first, the approbation was general. 
The desire for peace, and the reluctance 
to express any opinion which might en- 
danger it, were predominant in men's 
minds. Upon the principle of neutrality 
the cabinet had been unanimous. But in- 
telligence from Europe was continually 
arriving, and was spreading like wild-fire 
through the country. The coalition form- 
ed against France assailed the guardian 
principles of America, the independence 
and internal liberty of nations. England 
was at its head, hated as a recent enemy, 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XI. p. 102. 



OF WASHINGTON. 159 

suspected as a former master. Her de- 
crees and measures in regard to neutral 
commerce and the impressment of sailors 
wounded the United States in their dig- 
nity and their interests. With the great 
question of neutrality, particular questions 
arose, doubtful enough to serve as a just 
reason or a pretext for diversity of opin- 
ions and strong expressions of feeling. 
Upon some of them, as, for instance, on the 
restitution of maritime prizes and the mode 
of receiving the new minister expected 
from France, the cabinet was no longer 
unanimous. This minister, M. Genet, ar- 
rived ; and his journey from Charleston to 
Philadelphia was a popular triumph. Ev- 
erywhere, on his journey, numerous and 
enthusiastic democratic associations assem- 
bled, invited him to meet them, and made 
addresses to him ; the newspapers rapidly 
circulated through the country accounts of 
these rejoicings and the news from France. 



160 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

The public feeling grew more and more 
inflamed. Of an enthusiastic tempera- 
ment himself, and blindly borne away 
by the desire of engaging the United 
States in a war to aid his country, M. Ge- 
net believed himself to have the right 
and the ability to dare every thing, and to 
succeed in every thing. He issued let- 
ters of marque, enrolled American citi- 
zens, armed privateers, adjudged prizes, 
and acted as a sovereign power in this 
foreign territory, in the name of republi- 
can brotherhood. And when Washington, 
at first astonished and motionless, but soon 
determined, vindicated the rights of the 
general government. Genet entered into 
an avowed contest with him, supported his 
own pretensions, broke out into violent 
abuse of him, encouraged the spirit of se- 
dition, and even threatened to appeal to 
the people against a President who was 



OF WASHINGTON. 161 

unfaithful to his trust, and to the general 
cause of liberty. 

No head of a state was ever more re- 
served than Washington in the exercise 
of power ; more cautious in making en- 
gagements and taking new steps. But, 
also, no one ever maintained more firmly 
his declarations, his purposes, and his 
rights. He was President of the United 
States of America. He had, in their 
name, and by virtue of their constitution, 
proclaimed their neutrality. The neu- 
trality was to be real and respected as 
well as his power. At five successive 
meetings, he laid before his cabinet the 
whole correspondence, and all the docu- 
ments, relating to this singular contest ; and 
the cabinet decided unanimously, that the 
recall of M. Genet should be immediately 
demanded of the French government. 

Genet was recalled. In the opinion of 

America, as well as in his demand upon 
11 



162 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

France, Wasliington gained a triumph. 
The federalists indignantly rallied around 
him. The pretensions and extravagant 
conduct of Genet had alienated many per- 
sons of the democratic party. Jefferson 
had not hesitated to support the President 
against him. A favorable reaction took 
place, and the contest seemed at an end. 
But in government, as well as in war, 
there are victories which cost dear, and 
leave the danger still existing. The rev- 
okuionary fever, once more kindled in the 
United States, did not depart with a re- 
called minister. Instead of that harmony 
of feeling, that calm after the storm of 
passions ; instead of that course of pros- 
perity and general moderation, upon which 
the American republic was lately congrat- 
ulating itself, two parties were there in a 
hostile attitude, more widely separated, 
more violently irritated, than ever. The 
opposition no longer confined its attacks 



OF WASHINGTON. 163 

to the administration alone, to the financial 
measures of government, and to this or that 
doubtful application of legal powers. It 
had, concealed within itself, in the demo- 
cratic associations, in the periodical press, 
and among the foreigners who swarmed 
throughout the country, a true revolution- 
ary faction, eager to overturn society and 
its government, in order to reconstruct them 
upon other foundations. *' There exists in 
the United States," writes Washington to 
Lafayette, " a party formed by a combi- 
nation of causes, which oppose the gov- 
ernment in all its measures, and are de- 
termined, as all their conduct evinces, by 
clogging its wheels, indirectly to change 
the nature of it, and to subvert the Con- 
stitution. To effect this, no means which 
have a tendency to accomplish their pur- 
poses are left unessayed. The friends of 
government^ who are anxious to maintain 
its neutrality, and to preserve the country 



164 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

in peace, and adopt measures to secure 
these objects, are charged by them as 
being monarchists, aristocrats, and infract- 
ors of the Constitution, which, according 
to their interpretation of it, would be a 
mere cipher. They arrogated to them- 
selves the soh) merit of being the friends of 
France, when in fact they had no more 
resiard for that nation than for the Grand 
Turk, further than their own views were 
promoted by it ; denouncing those who 
differed in opinion, (whose principles are 
purely American, and whose sole view was 
to observe a strict neutrality,) as acting un- 
der British influence, and being directed by 
her counsels, or as being her pensioners." * 
''If the conduct of these men is viewed 
with indifference ; if there are activity and 
misrepresentation on one side, and supine- 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XI. p. 378. 



I 



OF WASHINGTON. 165 

ness on the other, their numbers accumu- 
lated by intriguing and discontented for- 
eigners under proscription, who were at 
war with their own governments, and the 
greater part qf them with all govern- 
ments, they will increase, and nothing 
short of Omniscience can foretell the con- 
sequences." * 

In the midst of this pressing danger, 
Jefferson, who was little inclined to en- 
gage any further in the contest, and who 
had announced his intention six months 
before, and had only delayed putting it in 
execution at the solicitation of Washington 
himself, peremptorily withdrew from the 
cabinet. 

The crisis was a formidable one. A 
general agitation spread throughout the 
country. The western counties of Penn- 
sylvania resisted with violence the tax on 

* Ibid., Vol. XI. p. 390. 



166 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

distilled spirits. In Kentucky and Geor- 
gia, warlike insurrections, perhaps excited 
from abroad, threatened, on their own au- 
thority, to take forcible possession of Louis- 
iana and Florida, and to engage the nation, 
in spite of itself, in a conflict with Spain. 
The war against the Indians continued, al- 
ways difficult and of doubtful issue. A 
new Congress had just assembled, full of 
respect for Washington; but yet the House 
of Representatives showed itself more re- 
served in its approbation of his foreign pol- 
icy, and chose an opposition Speaker by a 
majority of ten votes. England desired 
to maintain peace with the United States ; 
but, whether she had doubts of the success 
of Washington in this system, or acted in 
obedience to the dictates of her general pol- 
icy, or from an insolent spirit of contempt, 
she continued and even aggravated her 
measures against the commerce of the 
Americans, whose irritation also increased 



OF WASHINGTON. 167 

in its turn. " It has not been the smallest 
of these embarrassments," writes Washing- 
ton, "that the domineering spirit of Great 
Britain should revive again just at this 
crisis, and the outrageous and insulting 
conduct of some of her officers should 
combine therewith to play into the hands 
of the discontented, and sour the minds of 
those who are friends to peace. But this, 
by the bye." * 

It was indeed " by the bye," and with- 
out any purpose of taking advantage of it in 
order to weaken his policy or to exalt his 
merit, that he pointed out the obstacles 
scattered along his path. As exempt from 
vanity as from indecision, he took pains to 
surmount, but not to display them. At the 
time when the ascendency of the demo- 
cratic party seem to be assured, when the 
federalists themselves were wavering, 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XI. p. 63. 



168 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

when severe measures proposed in Con- 
gress against England were about, per- 
haps, to render war inevitable, Washing- 
ton suddenly announced to the Senate, by 
a message, that he had just nominated 
one of the principal leaders of the federal 
party, Mr. Jay, Envoy Extraordinary to 
the Court of London, in order to attempt 
to reconcile the differences between the 
two nations by the peaceful instrument of 
negotiation. 

The Senate immediately confirmed his 
choice. The indignation of the opposition 
was at its height. They desired war, and 
especially, by means of war, a change 
of policy. The simple continuance of 
the present state of affairs promised 
to lead to that result. In so excited 
a state of feeling, in the midst of the 
increasing irritation, a rumor from Eu- 
rope, a new insult to the American flag, 
the slightest circumstance, might cause 



OF WASHINGTON. 169 

hostilities to break out. Washington, by 
his sudden resolution, gave a new turn to 
events. The negotiations might be suc- 
cessful ; they made it the duty of the 
government to await the result. If they 
failed, he remained in a position to make 
war himself, and to control it, without 
his policy's receiving a death-blow. 

In order to give to his negotiations the 
authority of a strong and well-established 
power, at the same time that he was baf- 
fling the hopes of his enemies as to mat- 
ters abroad, Washington resolved to re- 
press their efforts at home. The re- 
sistance of some counties in Pennsylvania 
to the tax on distilled spirits had become an 
open rebellion. He announced, by a pro- 
clamation, his firm purpose of enforcing the 
execution of the laws ; assembled the mi- 
litia of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, 
and Pennsylvania itself; formed them into 
an army ; went in person to the places of 



170 CHARACTER AND IJNTLUENCE 

rendezvous, with a determination to take 
the command himself if the contest be- 
came serious ; and did not return to Phil- 
adelphia till he had learned, with certainty, 
that the insurgents would not venture to 
sustain it. They dispersed, in point of 
fact, on the approach of the army, a de- 
tachment of which took up winter quar- 
ters in the disaffected country. 

Washington, on this occasion, felt that 
stern but deep joy, sometimes grant- 
ed, in free countries, to a virtuous man 
who bears firmly the weight of pow- 
er. Everywhere, especially in the States 
which w^ere near the scene of the in- 
surrection, good citizens w^ere aware of 
the danger, and felt their obligation to 
contribute, by their own efforts, to the 
support of the laws. The magistrates 
were resolute, the militia zealous ; a 
strong public opinion silenced the hypo- 
critical sophistries of the advocates of the 



OF WASHINGTON. 171 

insurrection; and Washington did his duty 
with the approbation and support of his 
country. A moderate compensation, in- 
deed, for the new and bitter trials that 
awaited him. 

At about the same period, his cabinet, 
which had shared his labors and his glory, 
withdrew from him. Hamilton, who was 
the object of a hostility alvvajs increasing, 
after having sustained the contest as long 
as the success of his plans and his honor 
required, compelled at length to think of 
himself and of his family, resigned. Knox 
followed his example. Thus Washington 
was surrounded by none but new men, who, 
though devoted to his course of poUcj, had 
much less weight of authority than their 
predecessors, when Mr. Jay returned from 
London, bringing the result of those nego- 
tiations, the mere announcement of which 
had excited so much indignation. 

The treaty was far from accomplishing 



172 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

all that was to be desired. It did not 
settle all the questions, nor secure all the 
interests of the United States ; but it put 
an end to the principal differences of the 
two nations ; it assured the full execution, 
hitherto delayed by Great Britain, of the 
agreements entered into with her when 
she had recognised the independence of 
the country ; it prepared the way for new 
and more favorable negotiations. In short, 
it was peace ; an assured peace ; one 
which lessened even those evils, which it 
did not remove. 

Washington did not hesitate. He had 
the rare courage to adhere firmly to a 
leading principle, and to accept, without 
a murmur, the imperfections and incon- 
veniences which accompany success. He 
immediately communicated the treaty to 
the Senate, who approved it, with the 
exception of one article, in regard to 
which a modification was to be required 



OF WASHINGTON. 173 

of England. The question still re- 
mained in suspense. The opposition made 
their utmost efforts. Addresses came from 
Boston, New York, Baltimore, George- 
town, Scc, expressing disapprobation of 
the treaty, and requesting the Presi- 
dent not to ratify it. The populace of 
Philadelphia assembled in a riotous man- 
ner, marched through the town, carrying 
the articles of the treaty at the end of a 
pole, and formally burned them before the 
house of the British minister and consul. 
Washington, who had gone to pass some 
days at Mount Vernon, returned in haste to 
Philadelphia, and consulted his cabinet on 
the question of immediately ratifying the 
treaty, without awaiting the arrival from 
London of the modification which even the 
Senate had declared necessary. The step 
was a bold one. One member of the cabi- 
net, Randolph, made objections. Washing- 
ton went on and ratified the treaty. The 



174 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

British government agreed to the modifi- 
cation demanded, and in its turn ratified 
it. There still remained the duty of car- 
rying it into effect, which required legis- 
lative measures and the intervention of 
Congress. The contest was renewed in 
the House of Representatives. Several 
times the opposition gained a majority. 
Washington stood firm, in the name of the 
Constitution, which his opponents also 
appealed to against him. Finally, at the 
end of six months, that peace might not 
be disturbed, in the general conviction 
that the President would be inflexible, the 
opposition being rather wearied out than 
overcome, the measures necessary for car- 
rying the treaty into effect were adopted 
by a majority of three votes. 

Throughout the country, in public meet- 
ings and in newspapers, the fury of party 
exceeded all bounds. From all quar- 
ters, every day, addresses full of censure, 



OF WASHINGTON. 175 

anonymous letters, invectives, calumnies, 
threats, were poured out against Wash- 
ington. Even his integrity was scanda- 
lously assailed. 

He remained unmoved. He replied to 
the addresses ; " My sense of the treaty 
has been manifested by its ratification. 
The principles on which my sanction was 
given, have been made public. I regret 
the diversity of opinion. But whatever 
qualities, manifested in a long and arduous 
public life, have acquired for me the con- 
fidence of my fellow-citizens, let them be 
assured that they remain unchanged ; and 
that they will continue to be exerted on 
every occasion, in which the honor, the 
happiness, and welfare of our common 
country are immediately involved."* 

On the attacks of the press, he said ; 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XII. p. 212. 



176 



CHARACTER AND I^TLUENCE 



" I did not believe until lately, that it 
was within the bounds of probability, 
hardly within those of possibility, that 
while I was using my utmost exertions to 
establish a national character of our own, 
independent, as far as our obligations 
and justice would permit, of every nation 
of the earth; and wished, by steering a 
steady course, to preserve this country 
from the horrors of a desolating war, I 
should be accused of being the enemy of 
one nation, and subject to the influence of 
another ; and, to prove it, that every act 
of my administration would be tortured, 
and the grossest and most insidious mis- 
representations of them be made, by giving 
one side only of a subject, and that, too, 
in such exa£^o;erated and indecent terms as 
could scarcely be applied to a Nero, a no- 
torious defaulter, or even to a common 
pickpocket. But enough of this. I have 



OF WASHIJNGTON. 177 

already gone further in the expression of 
my feelings than I intended." * 

Good men, the friends of order and 
justice, at length perceived that they were 
leaving their noble champion exposed, 
without defence, to unworthy attacks. In 
free countries, falsehood stalks with a 
bold front ; vain would be the attempt 
to force it to keep concealed ; but it is 
the duty of truth, also, to lift up its 
head ; on these terms alone is liberty a 
blessing. In their turn, numerous and 
cordial congratulations, encouraging and 
grateful addresses, were presented to 
Washington. And when the close of his 
second presidency approached, in all parts 
of the Union, even those where the op- 
position seemed to prevail, a multitude 
of voices were raised, to entreat him to 
accept a third time the highest power 



* Washington's Writings, Vol. XI. p. 139. 
12 



178 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

which the suffrages of his fellow-citizens 
could confer. 

But his resolution was fixed. He did 
not permit even a discussion of the ques- 
tion. That memorable Farewell Address, 
in which, as he was returning into the 
midst of the people whom he had gov- 
erned, he dispensed to them the last 
teachings of his long-gathered wisdom, is 
still, after more than forty years, cher- 
ished by them as an object of remem- 
brance, and almost of tenderness of feeling. 

*' In offering to you, my countrymen, 
these counsels of an old and affectionate 
friend, I dare not hope they will make the 
strong and lasting impression I could wish; 
that they will control the usual current of 
the passions, or prevent our nation from 
running the course, which has hitherto 
marked the destiny of nations. But, if I 
may even flatter myself, that they may be 
productive of some partial benefit, some 



OF WASHINGTON. 179 

occasional good ; that they may now and 
then recur to moderate the fury of party 
spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of 
foreign intrigue, to guard against the im- 
postures of pretended patriotism ; this 
hope will be a full recompense for the 
solicitude for your welfare, by which 

they have been dictated." * 

" Though, in reviewing the incidents of 
my administration, I am unconscious of in- 
tentional error, I am nevertheless too sen- 
sible of my defects not to think it proba- 
ble that I may have committed many 
errors. Whatever they may be, I fer- 
vently beseech the Almighty to avert or 
mitigate the evils to which they may tend. 
I shall also carry with me the hope, 
that my country will never cease to view 
them with indulgence ; and that, after 
forty-five years of my life dedicated to its 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XII. p. 233. 



180 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

service with an upright zeal, the faults of 
incompetent abilities will be consigned to 
oblivion, as myself must soon be to the 
mansions of rest. 

*' Relying on its kindness in this as in 
other things, and actuated by that fervent 
love towards it, which is so natural to a 
man, who views in it the native soil of 
himself and his progenitors for several gen- 
erations ; I anticipate with pleasing ex- 
pectation that retreat, in whtch I promise 
myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet 
enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of 
my fellow-citizens, the benign influence 
of good laws under a free government, the 
ever favorite object of my heart, and the 
happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual 
cares, labors, and dangers." * 

^What an incomparable example of dig- 
nity and modesty ! How perfect a model 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XII. pp. 234, 235. 



OF. WASHINGTON, 181 

of that respect for the public and for one's 
self, which gives to power its moral gran- 
deur ! 

Washington did well to withdraw from 
public business. He had entered upon it 
at one of those moments, at once difficult 
and favorable, when nations, surrounded 
bj perils, summon all their virtue and all 
their wisdom to surmount them. He was 
admirably suited to this position. He held 
the sentiments and opinions of his age 
without slavishness or fanaticism. The 
past, its institutions, its interests, its man- 
ners, inspired him with neither hatred nor 
regret. His thoughts and his ambition 
did not impatiently reach forward into the 
future. The society, in the midst of 
which he lived, suited his tastes and his 
judgment. He had confidence in its prin- 
ciples and its destiny ; but a confidence 
enlightened and qualified by an accurate 
instinctive perception of the eternal prin- 



182 CHARACTER AjN^D IATLUENCE 

ciples of social order. He served it with 
heartiness and independence, with that 
combination of faith and fear which is 
wisdom in the affairs of the world, as 
well as before God. On this account^ es- 
pecially, he was qualified to govern it ; 
for democracy requires two things for its 
tranquillity and its success ; it must feel 
itself to be trusted and yet restrained, and 
must believe alike in the genuine devoted- 
ness and the moral superiority of its leaders. 
On these conditions alone can it govern it- 
self while in a process of developement, 
and hope to take a place among the dura- 
ble and glorious forms of human society. 
It is the honor of the American people to 
have, at this period, understood and ac- 
cepted these conditions. It is the glory 
of Washington to have been their inter- 
preter and instrument. 

He did the two greatest things which, 
in politics, man can have the privilege of 



OF. WASHINGTON. 183 

attempting. He maintained, by peace, that 
independence of his country, which he had 
acquired by war. He founded a free gov- 
ernment, in the name of the principles of 
order, and by reestablishing their sway. 

When he retired from public life, both 
tasks were accomplished, and he could 
enjoy the result. For, in such high enter- 
prises, the labor which they have cost mat- 
ters but little. The sweat of any toil is 
dried at once on the brow where God 
places such laurels. 

He retired voluntarily, and a conqueror. 
To the very last, his policy had pre- 
vailed. If he had wished, he could 
still have kept the direction of it. His 
successor was one of his most attached 
friends, one whom he had himself desig- 
nated. 

Still the epoch was a critical one. He 
had governed successfully for eight years, 
a long period in a democratic state, and that 



184 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

in its infancy. For some time, a policy op- 
posed to his own had been gaining ground. 
American society seemed disposed to make 
a trial of new paths, more in conform- 
ity, perhaps, with its bias. Perhaps the 
hour had come for Washington to quit 
the arena. His successor was there over- 
come. Mr. Adams was succeeded by Mr. 
Jefferson, the leader of the opposition. 
Since that time, the democratic party has 
governed the United States. 

Is this a good or an evil ? Could it be 
otherwise ? Had the government con- 
tinued in the hands of the federal party, 
would it have done better ? Was this 
possible ? What have been the conse- 
quences, to the United States, of the 
triumph of the democratic party ? Have 
they been carried out to the end, or have 
they only begun ? What changes have the 
society and constitution of America under- 



OF WASHINGTOJN. 185 

gone, what have they jet to undergo, 
under their influence ? 

These are great questions ; difficult, if I 
mistake not, for natives to solve, and cer- 
tainly impossible for a foreigner. 

However it may be, one thing is cer- 
tain; that which Washington did, — the 
founding of a free government, by order 
and peace, at the close of the Revolu- 
tion, — no other policy than his could 
have accomplished. He has had this 
true glory ; of triumphing, so long as he 
governed ; and of rendering the triumph 
of his adversaries possible, after him, with- 
out disturbance to the state. 

More than once, perhaps, this result 
presented itself to his mind, without 
disturbing his composure. " With me, a 
predominant motive has been to endeavour 
to gain time to our country to settle and 
mature its yet recent institutions ; and to 
progress without interruption to that de- 



1S6 CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE 

gree of strength and consistency, which is 
necessary to give it, humanly speaking, 
the command of its own fortunes." ^ 

The people of the United States are 
virtually the arbiters of their own for- 
tunes. Washington had aimed at that 
high object. He reached his mark, 

Who has succeeded like him ? Who 
has seen his own success so near and 
so soon ? Who has enjoyed, to such a 
degree and to the last, the confidence and 
gratitude of his country ? 

Still, at the close of his life, in the de- 
lightful and honorable retirement at Mount 
Vernon, which he had so longed for, this 
great man, serene as he was, was inwardly 
conscious of a slight feeling of lassitude and 
melancholy ; a feeling very natural at the 
close of a long life employed in the affairs 
of men. Power is an oppressive burden ; 

* Washington's Writings, Vol. XII. p. 234. 



OF WASHmCTON. 187 

and mankind are hard to serve, when 
one is struggling virtuously against their 
passions and their errors. Even suc- 
cess does not efface the sad impressions 
which the contest has given birth to ; and 
the exhaustion, which succeeds the strug- 
gle, is still felt in the quiet of repose. 

The disposition of the most eminent men, 
and of the best among the most eminent, 
to keep aloof from public affairs, in a 
free democratic society, is a serious fact. 
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, all ardent- 
ly sighed for retirement. It would seem 
as if, in this form of society, the task of 
government were too severe for men who 
are capable of comprehending its extent, 
and desirous of discharging the trust in a 
proper manner. 

Still, to such men alone this task is suited, 
and ought to be intrusted. Government 
will be, always and everywhere, the great- 
est exercise of the faculties of man, and 



188 CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON. 



consequently that which requires minds of 
the highest order. It is for the honor, as 
well as for the interest, of society, that 
such minds should be drawn into the 
administration of its affairs, and retained 
there ; for no institutions, no securities, 
can supply their place. 

And, on the other hand, in men who 
are worthy of this destiny, all weari- 
ness, all sadness of spirit, however it 
might be permitted in others, is a weak- 
ness. Their vocation is labor. Their re- 
ward is, indeed, the success of their ef- 
forts, but still only in labor. Very often 
they die, bent under the burden, before 
the day of recompense arrives. Wash- 
ington lived to receive it. He deserved 
and enjoyed both success and repose. Of 
all great men, he was the most virtuous 
and the most fortunate. In this world, 
God has no higher favors to bestow. 

THE END. 



